Unusual Testing
by AmorousXenomorph
Summary: A story following the relationship between a scientist and his Xenomorph research subject. This is an M/M pairing, so if you don't like, don't read. CAN YOU COME UP WITH A NEW TITLE FOR UNUSUAL TESTING? Rated M for violence, adult language and sexual themes.
1. Chapter 1

Greeting readers, new and returning, and welcome to the NEWLY EDITED version of Unusual Testing! Please enjoy the wonderfully updated plot, characters, and of course, sassy dialogue!

* * *

A loud siren woke him from his sleep. Dr. Kirchoff tried to roll over and go back to bed, but the deep sleep pod wasn't big enough for him to so much as wiggle.

"Hey, wake up shithead!" A loud voice shouted at him and a bright light was shone in his eyes. His arms went up to cover his eyes and he ignored the man shouting at him.

"I said wake up!" A pair of hands grabbed him by the shirt and yanked him to his feet. He opened his eyes and stumbled around while his vision got less blurry. He was in a long hallway lined with circular doors. All of the doors were surrounded by a multitude of lights and monitors, but the majority of them were dark and lifeless, but several of the doors to his left were still on and therefore occupied. His own pod was open and extended, sticking out about seven feet from the wall.

The man who yanked him out of bed stood beside him, holding a small metal case and a piece of paper.

"Your room number is 2245-A," The man said, tapping the piece of paper. "Your clothes and personal artifacts are in this case. Follow the yellow line on the floor to the living quarters, then be ready for meal time in 0500 hours."

"Hey…" Kirchoff's voice was cracked and dry. "How far are we away from.. uh.. you know the..."

"The Bernard Research Facility is the name you're looking for," The man said, clearly irritated. "Approximately two weeks. Now follow the damn yellow line on the floor to the living quarters, then be ready for meal time in 0500 hours."

"Thanks," Kirchoff took the case from the man and walked off down the hall, following the bright yellow painted line on the floor.

By the time he found his room it was already home to three other people, and judging by their loud voices and grey clothing they were members of the Colonial Marines. Just the people Kirchoff didn't want for roommates.

The trio of marines seemed to ignore his presence as he entered the room and took the remaining bunk on the bottom right side of the small room. He plonked the case down on the bed, clicked the latch and opened it up. Inside were 3 sets of white clothing and the minuscule amount of books that he had brought with him. He grabbed a set of clean clothes and headed for a bathroom that he had seen down the hallway on his way to his room. Again, the marines seemed to ignore his presence and kept talking in loud voices.

* * *

_Aw, I really fucking needed that,_ Kirchoff thought, his short brown hair still dripping wet from his shower. It felt nice to be dressed in new clothes after wearing the same jumpsuit for four years in hyper sleep. He walked over to one of the many water taps in the bathroom and took several long gulps of water. Once he satisfied his dry throat he turned the tap off and looked at himself in the mirror. All in all he wasn't a remarkable specimen of a human. In fact he was rather average looking. Standing at about 5'6" with brown hair and eyes, he was the kind of person who could easily blend into a crowd without being noticed. Even his body seemed average, not too broad, but not too skinny either. It was truly amazing how little he had changed during his journey here, but that was suspended animation for you.

Kirchoff combed his hands through his hair in attempt to untangle some of the knots in it, but he gave up and headed back to his room. The marines were still talking in raised voices when he came in and plopped himself down on his bed. It seemed as though they were so engrossed in their conversation that they didn't even register that he existed.

_Not that I'm complaining,_ he thought to himself. _The less attention these assholes pay to me, the better._

"...and then she left with my gun and half of my ties!" One of the marines, a big, muscly bastard was just wrapping up a story that sent the other two overboard laughing their asses off.

"How 'bout you man?" The big bastard pointed at the marine in the bunk just above his. "You got any stories about the ladies?"

"Not nearly as crazy as yours," The man above him answered. "The whole wife thing kind of limits my options when it comes to women."

"How about you pretty boy," The large muscled marine asked him. He started, not expecting the marine to actually address him. "You got a girl back home?"

"N-no," he stammered."I don't have anyone back home."

"Ain't nothing wrong with that man. The single life ain't so bad. Jus' think, you can fuck as many girls as you want while yer out 'ere."

Seeing an opportunity for a joke, Kirchoff said. "Who said anything about fucking girls?"

All of his roommates went dead silent. The man in the bunk above him looked down at him with kind of surprised while the other two stared at him with absolute loathing in their eyes. Kirchoff shrank back into his bunk, his cheeks burning. The marines didn't pick up their conversation again, so the room was filled with a deathly silence until a buzzer sounded, indicating that it was meal time.

* * *

Kirchoff watched as the cafeteria lady spooned a large serving of what he assumed was mashed potatoes onto his plate. It landed with a wet plop, coating the beans, rice and pork that were already on his tray. He turned around and looked out over the small cafeteria for a place to sit. It was a small place, with only 4 tables big enough to seat nine or ten people at most.

Three of the tables were already occupied by men and women in white body suits, but the fourth was empty save two of the marines who he was bunking with talking loudly to one another.

"Shit," he muttered under his breath. He cast one last look over the other tables, looking for any other available spots before walking over to the table with the two marines and plonked his tray down.

"Well look at this," The bigger man exclaimed. "The little fairy decided to pay us a visit. How's it going princess?"

"Fine, thanks for asking," He said in a bland voice.

_I'd be better if I didn't have to look at your ugly mug,_ he thought. The man's face looked a flat-head shovel that had been slammed into a brick wall.

"C'mon man, leave him alone," another marine said, jabbing the big guy in the ribs. "We can't get in shit with the higher ups again."

The big man let out an arrogant snort, but held his tongue.

"Sorry 'bout Barry here. He's a fine example of a grade A asshole," the other marine said. "I'm John." He extended his hand to Kirchoff. He shuddered at the mention of the name Barry, but he accepted John's handshake.

"So, you're one of the bigwig scientists who's got picked to work all the way out here, eh?"

"Yeah," He muttered. "Lucky for me."

"Don't really see the point of studying a bunch of bugs though. I mean yeah they're smart and all, but what's the point if all we're gonna do I kill 'em anyways?"

Kirchoff shrugged. "Finding better ways to kill them? I'm not sure, but as long as I get paid, what do I care?"

John grinned. "That's the spirit. Make money, fuck bitches."

"I suppose. I assume you're doing the same thing?"

"Yeah, only without the bitches," John replied. "For me anyways. Got a wife and kids at home. Barry can fuck bitches for the both of us, right Barry?"

A grunt was Barry's only response. He grabbed his tray and walked over to the garbage disposal, dumped the remainder of his food, as well as the plate and cutlery, down the chute and walked out of the cafeteria. John rolled his eyes. "Sorry about Barry. The bastard's so homophobic cuz' he's paranoid he's gonna catch the gay or something. Like that can happen."

John got up to follow Barry. "Hey John, thanks for being so cool with..."

"No problem, but I recommend that you don't tell anyone else your little secret while you're out here. A lot of people out here are pretty anti-homo."

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind."

* * *

"Dr. Kirchoff, please report to Dr. Nigel's office please," A woman's voice said over the intercom, "Dr. Kirchoff to Dr. Nigel's office."

Kirchoff was lying on the small cot in his room. It was sparsely decorated, with only a bed, dresser, and bedside table complete with lamp to fill the small concrete room. At the sound of the announcement, he dragged himself upright. It was odd, he was supposed to head down to an important briefing in ten minutes. He shrugged and began the long walk from his dorm room to the research division of the facility.

He had been working here for a month and he had yet to do any actual research. All he had been doing was going to mandatory briefing sessions, instructional lessons on the use of lab equipment and the proper procedure on writing up reports as well as various aptitude, medical and physical tests. It was so boring and repetitive that Kirchoff was pretty sure he had actually fallen asleep three times during the last briefing. _Well, at least I finally get to meet the infamous Dr. Nigel._

Dr. Ursula Nigel was something of a legend at the Bernard Research Facility. She had been working here for nigh on twenty years and had been in charge of all Xenomorph studies for seventeen of those years. Rumors of the various projects that she had headed here ran rampant, although Kirchoff doubted the legitimacy of many of them. She rarely addressed any of the other scientists in person, so the idea that such a powerful and rather mysterious figure wanted to meet with a new arrival like him was a little unnerving.

It took Kirchoff an hour to walk the various hallways, stairs, and elevator rides down to the office of Dr. Nigel. Once he found her office, he stood at the door for a good five minutes working up the nerve to knock on the door. When he finally raised his hand to knock on the door, a clear feminine voice called out, "Just come in Dr. Kirchoff. I know you're out there."

His cheeks burning, he turned the knob and pushed the door inwards. He wasn't quite sure what he was expecting when he stepped into Dr. Nigel's office, but it was almost disappointing. It was a very simple affair, with only a wooden desk and several filing cabinets filling the interior of the cramped office space. It was hard to tell exactly where everything was though due to the massive amounts of paper strewn absolutely everywhere. Covering the desk, bulging from the filing cabinets, laying on the floor, and pinned to the walls. There wasn't a single inch of space in her office not covered by paper. Sitting at the paper covered desk was Dr. Nigel herself, her head buried in yet more papers.

"Um… You called for me?" Kirchoff asked hesitantly.

She looked up from her desk. In contrast with the mess scattered around the room, her hair was neatly braided and ran down her shoulders. The brown skin of her face was smooth and flawless except for the large bags under her eyes. "I did indeed. Do you know why I called you here?"

He shuffled his feet uncomfortably, "No."

"Take a walk with me and I'll show you," She got up, being careful not to knock any of the papers off her desk and walked out the door. Kirchoff hesitated for a brief moment, then followed her out of her office and down the hall. Neither of them said a word as she led them down another winding path of hallways, stairs, elevator rides and various empty rooms. Soon they reached the doors to a grimy looking elevator. Dr. Nigel pressed the down button and they stood together for a long time.

"So I assume you've heard a lot of rumors about my work here," She said, breaking the silence.

"Yes," Kirchoff replied.

"Which ones did you hear?"

"Pardon?"

"Which rumors did you hear? It's always amusing to hear what stories all the new scientists have heard."

Kirchoff was taken aback. "Well… The most memorable one I heard about was the one where you transfused Xenomorph blood into a group of test subjects and they melted from the inside out."

Dr. Nigel broke out laughing. "They're still telling that one?" She shook her head. "I can tell you with a hundred percent certainty that we did not pump a bunch of people full of Xeno blood. In fact, it was the complete opposite. We pumped a Xenomorph full of donated human blood in order to study how similar a Xenomorph's biology is to a human's."

"Wow," he breathed. "That's very…"

"Interesting? Yes it was. We learned quite a bit from that little endeavor I can tell you."

"Wait, we?"

She raised a thin eyebrow at him. "Well you don't expect me to do all of my research alone do you? You've seen my office. There's no way I could write all those papers by myself."

He thought back to Dr. Nigel's paper coated office. "You do have a few papers lying around."

"And that's just some of the paperwork from the latest study we conducted. My job is far less glamorous than most people make it out to be. Sure I get to say I lead a variety of different research projects that better our knowledge of the Xenomorphs, but when it comes right down to it I'm like a glorified secretary. I get to sort through all of the data all scientists working for me collect and I process it down into one report for my superiors to read, which is not easy task let me tell you."

"Why don't you just do everything through a computer?" It seemed a lot easier to have everything organized on a computer rather than have it all on paper.

"I don't trust digital storage. It's too easy to copy a document or steal a hard drive and get away with it. I would much rather my research remain… confidential. So I hope you don't mind hand writing reports."

"I don't really mind. It certainly explains all the classes on report writing though."

"Yeah. You wouldn't believe how many people have no idea how to write a proper report."

"Not after they're done with that report writing class."

She giggled. "I like you Kirchoff. I'm glad you're participating in this little project of mine."

John's warning to not tell anyone about his sexuality was still fresh in his mind, but Kirchoff thought he could make an exception with Dr. Nigel. "Don't get any crazy ideas doc, I don't swing that way."

She stopped talking and looked at him. Heat rushed to his cheeks and he quickly looked down at his shoes. Just as he started to regret letting his joke slip, she chuckled and shook her head again. "All that aside, I think we ought to get down to business. There is reason I called you to my office."

Kirchoff let out a little sigh of relief. "Yeah, I was wondering about that."

"As you know, you aren't the only scientist who came here to be a researcher. Many of your colleagues are going to work in our weapons development programs or in our interplanetary agricultural studies, but several scientists, you included, are going to be working for me on my latest project. Xenologists are in high demand out here and I can use all the help I can get."

She pressed the elevator button a few more times. "God dammit, could this thing be any slower? Anyways, you are going to be working on a special experiment. Your job is going to be studying the emotional reactions of a single Xenomorph subject to certain stimuli and environmental influences."

"Emotions?" Kirchoff was confused. "You mean like their body language or reactions or something?"

"No, I mean their actual emotional responses. The point of this project is to determine the exact range of emotions that Xenomorphs can experience."

The sheer implication of what Dr. Nigel was asking was mind boggling. "How exactly am I supposed to find out what emotions Xenomorphs feel? It's not like I can just ask a Xenomorph how he feels!"

"Don't worry Kirchoff. You'll be provided with all the equipment you need to perform the experiment. Keep in mind that most creatures display physiological responses with their emotions as well."

A grunt was his only response. Even with the incredibly advanced equipment he had to work with, this was not going to be easy task."What kind of equipment will I be working with?"

"You'll see in a minute, if this damn elevator would show up." A loud ding sounded. "Ah, how convenient."

The elevator door slid open, revealing a carriage just as grimy as the doors. Both of them stepped inside and Dr. Nigel inserted a key card into a slot and pressed a button marked 'R'. The elevator screeched and slowly began its descent. It seemed like hours before the elevator finally stopped it's long journey down into the bowels of the facility. They passed the barracks, the dormitories, the indoor farms and hydroponic facilities, and the research labs. Where ever she was taking them, it couldn't have been somewhere people visited very often.

The doors opened with a screech. The facility down here looked odd. Everything was pure white. The walls, the floors, the ceiling and even the lights were all pure white and impeccably clean. Not single scuff or mark anywhere.

"Where is this place?" Kirchoff asked.

"This is our advanced biological research facility," Dr. Nigel replied and gestured for him to follow her." Take a good look around, because you are one of the few people here who will ever get to see this place. The only way to get in and out of here is through the elevator we just came through. Originally this place was an old basement, but once I took over the Xenomorph research studies here I made a few... renovations."

They strolled down the white hallway, passing rows of identical doors at regular intervals until they came to one marked 223-C. Dr. Nigel entered a code into a small keypad protruding from the wall and the door slid up into the roof without a sound. The room behind the door was similar in style to the hallway outside. Everything was clean and white, and very minimalistic. The room was about ten feet high and all the walls were about twenty feet long. There was another door off to the side of the room. There were several monitors and panels protruding from the edge of one wall, but other than that the room was bare.

"This is your lab Kirchoff. That door to your right is your new living quarters. All of your stuff has been brought down here from your previous room. Get well acquainted with this place because you're going to be spending a lot of time here."

Kirchoff glanced around the room. "Where's all the equipment? I thought this place would be filled with computers and machines."

"This lab is the equipment," She pressed a button on a pedestal covered in blinking lights, dials, and buttons off to the side of the wall. It shimmered for a brief moment, then turned completely transparent, revealing a large empty room the same size as the one they were in. "The other side of this wall is a containment cell. The entire place is essentially a giant workstation. The floors and walls in the cell are lined with sensors that can detect a subject's pulse, breathing rate, body movements, and body temperature. A computer will automatically process data into numbers and stats for you, but it's your job to draw conclusions from the data you receive. There are also a variety of different tools that you can use to stimulate certain emotional behaviors."

"There are also a variety of documents that you have access to." She gestured to the table covered in monitors. "They have all the information that we have compiled on Xenomorph biology, genealogy and behavior. I also recommend that you read the manuals in your room. Your lab is a bit more advanced than the equipment you learned to use in training."

"You seem to have this pretty well planned out," he remarked.

"Oh, you have no idea," she said sarcastically. "Five years of planning and technological research went into this experiment, so try not to break anything. Do you have any questions?"

"Will I be working with anyone?"

No, only you will be working here, so don't get have any crazy ideas doc. I'm not sure all the male interns would appreciate it." She winked. "Anyways, your lab might look empty now, but your test subject will arrive tomorrow morning. Officially, his name is VS-223, but I've nicknamed him Valen."

"Valen? Like as in Valentine?" That seemed a pretty odd name.

"Yes. He's going to be your only research subject, so please try not to kill him immediately. He's rather… interesting."

He gazed into the empty cell on the other side of the wall. "I understand."


	2. Chapter 2

_Beep… Beep… Beep…_

"Uuugh," Kirchoff moaned. He rolled over in his bed and looked blearily at his alarm clock. Six thirty. Far too early in the morning for any sane human being to be awake. He rolled away from the alarm clock and tried to go back to bed, but the alarm clock's incessant blaring made it impossible. Begrudgingly, he tossed his blankets off the bed and stood up, rubbing his eyes in a feeble attempt to wake himself up. Failing that, he stumbled into the kitchen for some good old fashioned coffee. It took several minutes of blundering around, finding the coffee maker, figuring out how the damn thing worked, and trying to find a bowl for his cereal, but a half and hour later Kirchoff stepped out of his room relatively groomed and ready for a long day of research.

He sat himself down at the control panel in a very nice swivel chair and fiddled around with the controls. The wall on his side turned transparent and revealed the other room behind it. The cell looked just as it had the other day, blank, white and incredibly boring, save one thing. In the corner of the room closest to him, pressed up against the wall was a large Xenomorph warrior. Even though it was curled up, he could easily see that it was huge, probably over eight feet tall standing. He admired the magnificent specimen that he had been given to work with in awe for a time, but he still had a job to do.

* * *

Valen felt the human's gaze on him. Even though he couldn't see it, he could feel it's little consciousness, like a candle in a dark void. So feeble and flickering, not knowing how easy it would be to snuff it out. He reached out to that light spot in the dark and felt the man's mind. His every thought and emotion were as clear as though they had been written on the surface of his mind.

Valen knew he was being melodramatic, but he was just so damn bored. The man had been sitting there for at least five minutes just looking at him. He would have expected something by now.

_Is he just waiting for me to do something?_ Valen asked himself. He wouldn't give it that satisfaction. Instead he remained curled up in the corner of the room and continued pretending he didn't know he was there.

Without warning, a loud alarm blared and pain spiked through his head. He shrieked and screamed and covered his head as best he could to try and blot out the horrible noise. The noise blared on and on for what seemed like an eternity until it finally, mercifully stopped.

There was silence in the room, then a voice boomed, "Hello Valen. Are you ready to start?"

_Am I ready to start? Ready to start what?_ He grumbled to himself. _Ready to get my ears destroyed?_

He really wanted to scream at the man behind the wall, but he controlled himself. It wouldn't be as satisfying if he reacted the way the man wanted. Instead of hissing or screeching, he looked at the fake wall and shook his head.

* * *

On the other side of the wall, Kirchoff was looking at Valen intently. _Did he just shake his head?_

"Can you understand me?" Kirchoff asked, speaking into a microphone on the computer. Valen nodded his head.

_Okay, what the hell?_ Kirchoff thought. _He can understand me._

This research project was certainly off to an interesting start. When he had sat down at his workstation he had a half formed plan of talking to Valen to stimulate some kind of response, but this was most certainly not the response he had expected.

_Maybe if he can understand me…_ "Can you speak to me?"

_Oh, I can go one better than that_, said a voice. It wasn't a voice per se since he was pretty sure he hadn't actually heard anything, but he definitely heard a voice.

"What was that?"

_What, you don't understand sarcasm?_

Kirchoff clenched his ears in attempt to blot out the voice.

_What are you doing? You look like an idiot._

"Why won't you just shut the hell…" He looked up and saw Valen looking at him through the glass, his head tilted in what he assumed was concerned interest.

"Did you just say that?"

_Said what?_ Valen looked away innocently.

_Oh great_, he thought. _I'm either insane, or I have to deal with a sarcastic Xenomorph that can speak to me in my head._

_I think insanity might be the better option,_ said Valen.

* * *

"Okay Valen, let's try this again. I'm going to ask you a question, and you're going to give me a straight answer or I'll shock you."

_Why? You shock me so much that I don't think it would do anything at this point, so why should I bother? _Valen asked.

"Fine, then I'll gas you!" Kirchoff shouted.

_I still won't talk,_ Valen retorted.

"Gah!" Kirchoff stepped away from the panel and began pacing his room.

_Nope, I still won't talk even if you 'Gah!' me._

Kirchoff let out a stream of curses, kicking his chair across the room and pulling at his hair. Nothing was working. For the past month he had tried everything at his disposal, but no matter how much he gassed, electrocuted, hosed, starved, or beat him, Valen refused to show any signs of breaking. Any questions Kirchoff had about Valen's telepathic abilities were forced to the back of his mind as he tried day after day to get any kind of reaction out of him other than snarky retorts and back sass. He stalked back to the panel and was about to press the button to electrocute Valen when a sudden idea came to mind.

He had read and reread the reports that he was given to use. Most of them contained information he already knew, but he double checked a report on Xenomorph social behavior just to make sure. If his plan worked, it might just get Valen to give him what he wanted. If not, no harm done. To him anyways.

"Alright Valen, I won't hurt you," Kirchoff said into the microphone.

_Hmmmm?_ Valen raised his head and looked up at him in mock interest.

"In fact, I'm not going to do anything to you for a long time. Hope you don't mind some alone time." He pressed several buttons on the panel and Valen's room went dark and the wall turned opaque.

_Is this some attempt on your part to be clever?_ Valen asked sarcastically.

"Oh, you'll see," Kirchoff grinned. Once he confirmed that the wall was completely opaque, he turned on his heel, walked into his quarters and locked the door.

* * *

Kirchoff rolled over in his bed. It had been over a week since he had been into his lab and he was running out of things to do. The fridge and pantry were restocked regularly, so food wasn't an issue, but there was only so much that he could eat to pass the time. He had reread, re-reread and re-re-read all of his books, made a pillow fort, destroyed it, rebuilt it, rearranged all the furniture twice, masturbated twice, and now he was lying face down on the couch out of sheer boredom. The one thing he didn't do was go back into his lab. As tempting as it was to go back to the frustrating job of trying to extract answers out of Valen, if only to have something to do, he didn't. If he wanted to have any possibility of future of his plan working, he would have to wait.

Xenomorphs were very social creatures. Under ordinary circumstances, Xenomorphs lived together in their large hives, and as a result social structure and communication were incredibly important to both for their hive and for their own well being. If a Xeno that was raised in a hive-like environment was isolated from the hive for too long, its mental health would degrade, shortly followed by it's physical health. The details listed in Dr. Nigel's report on the subject were gruesome to say the least. However, it did give him something to work with. He concluded that since Valen had been raised in a lab here on the station, the only kind of social interaction he must have had with anyone must have been with humans. It stood to reason that if he didn't have contact with anyone, ie. him, he would weaken enough for him to finally crack.

He looked down the hall and at the door that lead to his lab and wondered how Valen was faring.

* * *

_When is that slobbering imbecile coming back?_ Valen wondered. He was pacing the length of his cell, casting the occasional glance at the wall that divided him from Kirchoff's side. It wasn't because he missed Kirchoff, he loathed the man. He just missed messing with him. It was so much fun to watch him squirm trying to get him to do anything. Still, it was rather lonely without him. It bothered him much more than it should.

_All I have to do is wait for him to come back. Then I'm going to give him the sassing of a lifetime._

Only he didn't come back. At first it didn't matter. He could entertain himself for hours on end by imagining the countless ways that he could slaughter the human, but as time went on, he could feel himself beginning to slip.

He tried to convince himself that everything was still all good, but soon he had trouble getting what little rest he needed, he rarely felt the urge to eat and his thoughts were becoming more muddled and sluggish by the day. After what felt like an eternity, he tried to contact Kirchoff, but whenever he tried to locate him he couldn't sense him anywhere. By the time he did show up again, he had all but given up.

He was lying sprawled out on the floor, wallowing in misery when he saw the wall turn transparent out of the corner of his eye and the human's voice blared out from the hidden speakers in the walls.

"Hello there Valen, you're looking good today," Kirchoff said with a slight sneer.

Valen remained silent and still. He didn't have the energy to make any attempt at making a comeback.

"What, no witty remarks?" Kirchoff asked.

_No…_ he said quietly.

"Well now, there's a shock. Now, unless you want to be left to rot in solitary confinement for another month, I suggest you cooperate with me from now on. Do you understand?"

_Yes…_

"Very well, we start tomorrow morning. And try to cut down on the sass."

* * *

"So, then… Tell me about yourself Valen." Kirchoff said over the microphone.

_What do you want to know?_ Despite his grumpy tone, Kirchoff could tell that he was glad to have someone to talk to. Or he might have just have been putting on an act so he wouldn't be put in solitary confinement again.

"Let's start with the basics," Kirchoff said, "What is the practical function of your skin color?"

_I thought it would be obvious to you Mr. Scientist,_ Valen retorted.

"It is, but I want to hear it from you."

_It's camouflage, obviously. What is the point of this?_

"Mmhmm," he mumbled, ignoring the question. "Now tell me, how did you learn to speak our language?"

Valen looked a bit shocked. _I thought we were starting with the basics._

"We did, and now we're moving on to the more complicated subjects," Kirchoff replied, smirking. "Now tell me, how did you learn to speak english? I didn't think that you would be smart enough to do something like that."

Valen looked indignant. _Despite appearances among my brethren we are not, in fact, the dumb, brutish animals you make us out to be. As you should know by observing me, we are rather intelligent, and I just so happen to be even more intelligent than the average... 'Xenomorph' as you call us. It was an easy task to listen in on your conversations and learn your primitive language._

"How long did it take you to learn all this?" he asked.

_Only about one month by your calendar._

"Unbelievable!" Kirchoff exclaimed.

_I beg your pardon?_

"That's incredible! You learned to speak fluent English in less than a month by simply listening? Holy shit!" Kirchoff was flabbergasted.

_You… you're impressed?_ He sounded dubious.

"Of course I am! That's unbelievable!"

Valen stood up slightly straighter at that. _Well it isn't _that_ big of a deal._

"What else have you learned? By watching us, I mean." Kirchoff asked excitedly.

_Well, I do know that you have a device that can measure the passing of time, and that you also…_ Valen spouted on and on for well over three hours about the things he had found out by watching his previous human researchers. Whenever he fumbled when trying to describe an object he didn't know the name of, Kirchoff stepped in and helped out. Despite his little mistakes, Valen seemed unfeasible proud of himself and Kirchoff was dumbfounded by his observations. If he was a human, he would certainly have been a great scientist. In return for his cooperation, Kirchoff told Valen what humans knew about the Xenomorphs.

_Pitiful, absolutely pitiful,_ he said, shaking his head. _Is that all of your brilliant scientists have deduced about us over the past century?_

"Yes, and I know it isn't much, but that's why you're here." he replied. "My job is to study you and try and find out as much about the range of emotions Xenomorphs can experience as I can. However…"

_It would be much easier for both of us if I just tell you how I feel,_ Valen finished. _But why would I ever want to do that? If I tell you all that I know right now, the humans will kill me, you'll be out of a job and who knows what will happen then. And what happens if you tell someone flat out that I can talk to you in your head? You'll be sent to the madhouse or worse. That's what happened to all the others._

"All the others?" Chills ran down his spine. There were others before him? Did Valen talk to them too?

_Fifteen others to be precise._

"What happened to them?"

_They all quit or were declared insane within a week. I'm quite surprised that you didn't go the same way._

Kirchoff leaned back in his chair, digesting what Valen had just said. If what Valen had said was true, then his job and possibly his life could be at risk. Whatever Dr. Nigel was planning, he was sure of two things. She chose Valen for this experiment for a reason, and dropping the ball now wasn't an option.

However, if he played his cards right he could make his job easier and more productive than he ever could have using traditional research methods. A talking Xenomorph wasn't exactly a common occurrence. He thought long and hard about what he was going to say before he said it, "I do not believe that you need to tell me everything. My job is to find out the exact array of emotions that you are capable of displaying. And as you said, if I went up to my superiors and said that Xenomorphs are as smart as humans because I heard one talking to me in my head, I'd be locked up almost instantly."

Valen stayed silent and still, waiting for him to go on. He took a deep breath and continued, "So what I'm suggesting is that you tell me enough about yourself so that I can write some decent reports, and in return I won't torture you. That way, we could both benefit. I would get all the data I need to keep my job, and it would prolong your life considerably. Who knows, one day you might be set free."

_Fat chance of that happening,_ Valen let out something like a snort_, But I do see your logic. It could work if you play this right. However, this is a dangerous game you are suggesting. I would be putting my life entirely in your hands. If you mess up and let something slip, they'll know something's up and who knows what will happen to us._

"Yes, it will be dangerous, but I think the reward will be worth the risk. What do you say?"

Valen was silent for a long time before he replied, _I see no better alternative. Yes, I will go along with your plan._


	3. Chapter 3

From that day on, Valen was even more open around Kirchoff. They talked about subjects they had previously kept to themselves.

"So are there any things that you like in a potential mate?"

_They have to know when to shut up and take it, unlike someone I know._

"Shut up!"

_Yes, exactly!_

Valen wasn't very judgemental, even though Kirchoff couldn't see how he could be, considering Valen's sexual preference. It turns out that among Xenomorphs, homosexuality is a very common and accepted practice. Only the Queen could reproduce, but all Xenomorphs are born with sexual organs and apparently had a very active sex drive, so they usually ended up mating with any other Xenomorph they could get their hands on regardless of gender.

Kirchoff wondered if that applied to Valen, and how he dealt with it. He imagined Valen curled up in a corner beating off to whatever twisted things he got off to. He quickly pushed the thought out of his mind before he threw up.

Valen also talked more about the social behaviour of Xenomorphs.

_As you may have guessed,_ he told Kirchoff,_ We live in hives with a queen ruling over us. She is the only one that is fertile and can lay eggs, but as I have told you, all Xenomorphs are born with sexual organs. Then there are the various other types of Xenomorphs that you have classified. Drones, which tend to the queen and maintain the hive. Runners, which act like your military scouts. Then there are the Praetorians, and to a greater extent the warriors like myself, who protect the hive from troublesome beings like you. There are a variety of other types, but you wouldn't be interested in them._

Kirchoff squirmed in his seat. He would very much like to hear about the other, rarer breeds of Xenomorphs, but he didn't want to interrupt Valen when he was so talkative.

_However,_ he continued, _What you may not have known is that the queen acts like more than a breeding machine for the hive. She is not only our ruler, but our mother. She can control the emotions of the hive with pheromones similar to bees, but she is also intelligent and must care for all of her children, or else they will all die, similar to how you almost killed me._

"Almost killed you?" Kirchoff looked shocked, "When?"

_When you locked me up for two months, you twit!_ exclaimed Valen. _We are very social creatures, and if we are cut off from interaction with other creatures or to a greater extent, our queen, we will die in months or even weeks._

"So how can you survive without a queen?" Kirchoff asked.

_I was born and raised in captivity. I never had a queen. Instead I have to maintain a connection with somebody to stay sane and healthy._

"Oh," he mumbled, "I see."

_As I was saying, we require constant social interaction to stay healthy. However, we aren't just insects, as you can probably tell, but intelligent creatures and we have emotions just like any other sentient being. The finer details of our emotions are determined by our hosts, but in general we feel the same basic desires as all creatures, hunger, pain, happiness, depression…_

"And what about guilt?" Kirchoff interrupted.

_Hah, guilt about what? Killing humans?_ Valen asked.

"I meant in general," Kirchoff said.

_No you didn't,_ he snorted. _If you must know, we do have the ability to feel regret, but answer me this: should we feel guilt over killing our prey, be it animal or human?_

"I… no, I don't think so." he said, "That wouldn't be very good for a predatory species like yours."

_Exactly, I'm glad to see you understand._

"What about love?"

_Love… If you mean love in the sense of sexual infatuation then yes, we are very capable of showing that. If you mean love as in the human definition…_ he paused before continuing. _Then I'm not sure, it is a tough question to answer. We can form close emotional bonds, but to love…_

Kirchoff waited for Valen to continue, but he went quiet and refused to speak again, so he retired to his room for the night. He laid on his bed for a long time, pondering what Valen had said.

* * *

Kirchoff woke up in a tangle of blankets the next morning. He rolled over and looked at his alarm clock.

_10:27… Oh shit!_ he thought. _I overslept!_

He untangled himself from the mess of blankets and looked at himself. He was still dressed from yesterday.

_Fuck it, I'll just wear these._ He grabbed an apple from the fridge and gobbled it down as he struggled with his labcoat. he stumbled out of the door to his lab and was shocked to see someone sitting in his chair in front of the control panel with her back to him.

"Excuse me, who the hell are you?" he asked.

"I'm your new assistant," she said in a calm, monotone voice. She turned around and he saw that she was dressed in a plain white lab coat, grey slacks and a grey sweater. Her face wasn't unattractive, but it was plain and devoid of any unusual features. All in all, she was bland and forgettable.

_I didn't realize you requested an assistant_, Valen said suspiciously.

_I didn't_, Kirchoff replied in his head.

"Um, if you don't mind my asking, who sent you here?" Kirchoff asked the bland woman.

"Dr. Nigel sent me here to assist you in your research," she said in her unnerving monotone voice.

"I'll be sure to extend my thanks to Dr. Nigel."

_I do _not_ like her,_ Valen said to Kirchoff, _She gives me the creeps._

_Same here._

"Shall we begin Dr. Kirchoff?" the plain woman asked.

"Yes, we can start with some basic stimulation with the water jets," he muttered.

"Very well," the woman reached out and pressed several buttons and cranked a dial marked 'Water Pressure' up to the maximum.

"Wait, not that much!" Kirchoff shouted at the woman as a blast of water powerful enough to punch through steel blasted from a hole in the side of the wall and slammed into Valen, pinning him to the opposite wall. He quickly turn the dial down so that the vicious torrent turned into a gentle spray.

"Valen! Are you okay?" Kirchoff shouted into the microphone.

_I just got hit by a water blast that almost ripped my limbs off, do you think I'm okay you dim witted idiot?!_ Valen snapped back. He tried to stand up, but collapsed to the ground in agony whenever he tried to put weight on his legs.

Kirchoff whirled around to face his new assistant who was sitting blank faced in front of the control panel.

"What the hell did you do that for? I wanted to do basic stimulation, not blast him to bits!" he yelled at her. She simply stared forwards ignoring him. "Hey, I asked you a question! Why did you do that?"

She turned her head to him and looked him dead in the eyes. He shivered under her cold, blank stare.

"Why should you care?" She asked, "It's only a Xenomorph."

The question wasn't out of the ordinary, but Kirchoff could sense the meaning behind it._ She's trying to get me in some kind of trouble._

"That is true, but he's also a valuable specimen," he said carefully, "I've made more progress studying him than any other researcher has in the past thirty years. There is still so much more research that I have to do."

"Such as?"

"Well, er…"

"You hesitated. Are you concealing information from me?" she asked. Suddenly, her tone wasn't bland and monotone, it was harsh and demanding. She stood up and glowered at Kirchoff, who shrank back a bit.

Despite her fearsome appearance, he refused to show weakness, especially in front of Valen who was watching the scene from behind the transparent wall, "Okay, that's it. Get out of here. Now!" He gestured at the door.

The woman narrowed her eyes at him. When she spoke again her voice was filled with venom, "What did you just say to me?"

"I told you to get out, you are not suitable as an assistant," he said more forcefully than before.

"Are you questioning the authority of Dr. Nigel?" the woman asked.

Kirchoff knew he had to be careful. If this woman was working for Dr. Nigel, and he had no reason to suspect her of lying, then he had to choose his next words carefully. "No, I respect her decision to appoint you as my assistant," he said slowly and deliberately, "However, since you are my assistant, it is my decision to make whether or not you are suitable to work with me, which I have decided against. Now leave before I call security."

The woman showed no signs of moving,"You overestimate your authority."

"Do I?" he asked.

"Yes," the woman said. As if a switch had been flicked, her voice had lost all of it's anger and had been replaced by the monotone blandness it had earlier. This scared Kirchoff more than if she had snapped at him.

"Good day Dr. Kirchoff," she said. She looked him in the eyes one last time, then bowed her head and left the room.

He stared after her for a few seconds, then turned his attention back to Valen. He had managed to stand up, but he was moving slowly, letting off hisses of pain every time he tried to move.

"How are you doing Valen?" he asked.

_I already told you, you imbecile!_ Valen shouted. _I'm in a lot of pain!_

"You know what I mean," he replied. "Any injuries that I should be worried about?"

_No, I'll heal,_ he curled up next to the fake wall near where Kirchoff stood at the control board. _Who the hell was that woman?_

"Someone we should be wary of. I think she was telling the truth when she said she was working for Dr. Nigel."

_Do you think that's a good thing?_

"No, just the opposite."

* * *

Dr. Nigel was sitting at her desk, reading over Kirchoff's latest report. Her office was sparsely furnished with a desk and a filing cabinet in the corner. The walls were lined with various documents and reports detailing various subjects. Her desk wasn't much better, a mess of papers, discarded coffee cups and writing utensils. She flipped the page of the report she was reading when she heard a light knocking on her door.

"Come in," she called to the knocker. The door opened and a plain woman dressed in a labcoat and a grey sweatpants and shirt stepped into the room. "Ah, Julianne, how are you doing?"

"Fine ma'am," she said in a monotone voice.

Dr. Nigel waved her hand in a dismissive gesture,"Oh, don't call me that. You make me feel like an old woman."

"As you wish Dr. Nigel."

Dr. Nigel stood up from her desk and looked the woman in the eyes. "I assume you have some results or else you wouldn't be here."

"Yes Dr. Nigel, I do."

She raised her eyebrows, "And?"

"Everything indicates that Phase one results are positive. Project Cantharides is ready to proceed as planned."

"Excellent!" she exclaimed, "I trust that you can deal with the subjects?"

"Yes Dr. Nigel."

"Good. We will commence in T minus 6 hours," she said, sitting back in her chair, "Make sure not to use too much this time, I want to keep them alive."

* * *

Ohohoho! What is Dr. Nigel planning? And who are these 'subjects'?

Please review if you liked it and feel free to PM me if you have any questions or suggestions.


	4. Chapter 4

_So Kirchoff, what do you like from a prospective mate?_

"You really cut to the case today didn't you," Kirchoff yawned. He had only just dragged himself out of bed and into the lab, his labcoat hanging loose and wrinkled over his pajamas. He considered changing out of them when he got up this morning, but they were too damn comfortable.

_So, what do you like?_

"Gimme a minute, I'm still waking up."

_Hurry up, I'm curious!_

"Okay okay. Jeez you're impatient today," He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and did his best to think, which was a hard task for him right after waking up. "I dunno. I like smart guys, and they have to have a sense of humor. They don't have to be the nicest, but I don't want to be in a relationship with an asshole. Other than that, I'm not sure. I haven't put all that much thought into it. What about you?"

_I don't care as long as they don't try to kill me on a daily basis._

"Wow. You have got some real high standards there."

_It's not like I can afford to be picky. There aren't all that many other male Xenomorph drones around now are there?_

"Whatever. If you want to shack up with an asshole, that's fine with me. I can afford to be picky."

_Why don't you pucker up and kiss my rear end. Tell me what you think about assholes then._

"Like I'd do that."

_I think you'd like it if you did that._

"...Shut up." Valen let out his raspy laugh and curled back up on the floor. _So what's on the agenda for today doc?_

"Not much. I just have to crunch some numbers, bullshit some report so it looks like I'm actually being productive and maybe talk to Dr. Nigel."

_Sounds thrilling._

"Yeah, positively riveting." He pushed back from his workstation and swiveled around in his chair. About four months ago, when he had his little breakdown to Valen, Kirchoff had been able to keep himself occupied with his work, but recently he found that he had less and less work to do and more and more free time on his hands. At first, it was nice to have a break from all the tedious labor of report writing, but soon enough boredom had begin to creep in. There wasn't much to do in his lab. Of course he could talk to Valen, but even after a year he still needed a break from him every now and again. Especially first thing in the morning. He still only had four books to his name, all of which he was pretty sure he could recite off by heart.

"I'll be back. I'm going to grab some food." He had just eaten breakfast and wasn't all that hungry, but it was something to do.

_I'll be here when you get back._

Kirchoff chuckled and walked into his living quarters and down to the small kitchen. After several minutes of rummaging through the fridge and cabinets, he emerged from the kitchen empty handed. He was out of bread and any attempt he made to make anything more complicated than a sandwich usually ended up being doused with a fire extinguisher. Just as he turned to leave the kitchen something in one for the cabinets caught his eye. On the top shelf of a cabinet filled with various plates and bowls was the edge a thin brown box.

_What is that?_ Kirchoff reached up and tried to grab the box, but he was too short. Grumbling in frustration, he grabbed the desk chair from his room and got the box down. It must have been up there for quite some time judging by the layer of dust on the lid. He blew the dust off the box to see if there were any labels indicating what might be inside it, but there was nothing. He ran his fingers along the edge of the box and gently lifted the lid. Instead of dinnerware, the box was filled with an old chess set, with actual wooden playing pieces.

Suddenly, an idea popped into his head. He rushed back out to the lab where Valen appeared to be sleeping. He sat himself on the floor in front of Valen and plopped the box.

_What's this?_ Valen asked, gazing at the box.

"Valen, have you ever played chess?"

He raised his head. _What's chess?_

Kirchoff grinned.

* * *

Dr. Nigel frowned. She flipped through the pages of the document again, re-reading what she already knew by heart. Her four month grace period was up and Dr. Gavin wanted a decision.

As if reading her mind, the man himself appeared at her door. He leaned on the door jamb with one hand on his hip and smirked at her. She had to resist the urge to slap him.

"I trust that you have come to a conclusion," he said.

"...Yes, I have."

"And?"

She sighed. "You win Gavin. I'll do it."

"I knew that you'd come around eventually," He said more than a little smugly.

* * *

"How the hell did you beat me so easy? I thought you've never played chess before!"

_I haven't,_ Valen said._ It's not all that hard if you think about it critically._

"I don't understand how you could beat me in seven moves though."

_I bet you I could do it in five._ He gave Kirchoff a smug look.

"You're on."

Even though he had just learned the rules of chess several hours ago he had already gotten the hang of the game of chess. It was fun. It challenged him to think critically, plan his moves, and try to stay one step above his competition. Which admittedly wasn't too hard. Kirchoff didn't seem to have quite the same grasp on chess as he did.

_Pawn to E4._ Kirchoff moved the little white playing piece. Then he responded by moving his pawn on the same row down to E5.

_Perfect, _He thought to himself. _Bishop to C4._ This made Kirchoff pause and think his next move through carefully. That was good, he was learning, but he still wanted to win. And the best way to do that would be to cause some kind of distraction. Fortunately, he was very good at those.

_Kirchoff, do you remember the first day we met?_

"Yes," His calculating gaze shifted to him. "Why do you ask?"

_No reason. I was just thinking about how much has changed since then. _

"Yeah, things certainly are different," Kirchoff looked a little distant.

_You're not trying to electrocute me for one._

"In my defence, you were annoying as all hell."

_I was not!_

"Oh yes you were!" Kirchoff moved the knight to Valen's left to C6. Perfect.

_Queen to F3,_ He had to resist the urge to snicker as Kirchoff moved his piece for him. _Tell me one way in which I was annoying._

"Um, lets see," He said sarcastically. "You refused to do answer anything I asked in a reasonable manner."

_I was merely challenging you. You're brain needs exercise too. It's so small and unused._

He laughed out loud as Kirchoff squirmed in rage. He moved his bishop to B4 to prevent him from moving one of his pawns, but it was too late now. "Fine! You're still an arrogant, sarcastic son of a bitch!"

_That doesn't matter so long as I've won. Queen to F7._ He watched in anticipation as Kirchoff moved his piece and knocked out one of his pawns. _Checkmate._

The look on Kirchoff's face was priceless. Half astonishment, half fury. "Fuck you Valen! Fuck you!" He was so mad that it practically radiated off of him. He stood up and kicked the wall, making it reverberate ever so slightly.

* * *

_Aw, are you mad that you lost?_

"Yes! Did you notice?" He was furious that Valen had beaten him so easily.

_As a matter of fact, I did._

Kirchoff took a deep breath. "Sorry, I'm just a bit competitive."

_I think you might be right on that one, _Valen said. No matter what he said, Valen always seemed to have a comeback ready to go.

"Do you know how many times I've been tempted to go back on my promise not to torture you?"

_Ummmm… About seven._

"I think it was closer to seventeen."

_No, seven. I've been keeping track._

Kirchoff rubbed his temples. "I swear to god, one of these days I am going to snap and just off you."

_You did almost did that already you jackass._

"What?" His eyebrows raised, "When?"

_When you locked me up for a month, you twit!_ exclaimed Valen. _I thought you knew that already._

"I knew that you were weakened, but I had no idea that you could have died."

_I'm pretty sure you almost did. I felt myself starting to slip just before you ended my solitary confinement._

"Oh," he mumbled. "According to reports I've read, Xenomorphs are very social creatures that will die in a matter of months if separated from social contact with other Xenomorphs. I just assumed that since you were raised in captivity it wouldn't affect you as much."

_Apparently not. I felt, well, hopeless after a while. Like I had no will to live._

"If I actually cared about doing my job right now, I'd be thrilled." Valen shot him what he assumed was a calculating look.

_But you don't feel thrilled, do you?_ Mind reading bastard. It was amazing just how well he could read him with his little psychic trick.

"No, I just feel guilty."

_I can tell._

"And what about you. Do you guilt about anything?" Kirchoff asked.

_Hah, guilt about what? Daydreaming about breaking out of here and murdering every human in sight?_ Valen asked.

"I meant in general," Kirchoff said.

_No you didn't,_ he snorted. _If you must know, I can feel guilty about some things, but answer me this: should I feel guilt over killing my prey, be it animal or human?_

"I… no, I don't think so," he said, "That wouldn't be very good for a predatory species like yours."

_Exactly, I'm glad to see you understand._

While Valen was being so talkative he might as well ask him something that had been at the back of his mind for a long time. It was kind of odd, but he didn't know when he would get another chance to ask, "What about love? Can you feel that?"

_Love… If you mean love in the sense of sexual infatuation then yes, I'm very capable of showing that. If you mean love as in the human definition…_ he paused before continuing. _Then I'm not sure, it is a tough question to answer..._

Kirchoff waited for Valen to continue, but he went quiet and refused to speak again. Reluctantly he cleaned up the chess board and retired to his room, even though it wasn't that late. He laid on his bed staring up at the room for a long time, pondering what Valen had said.

* * *

Kirchoff woke up in a tangle of blankets the next morning. He rolled over and looked at his alarm clock.

_10:27… Oh shit!_ he thought. _I overslept!_

He was supposed to go to a meeting at 11 and he still hadn't written anything up. Untangling himself from the mess of blankets was too much effort and he stumbled into the adjoining bathroom with a blanket still draped around his shoulders. He struggled and threw it off himself and saw in the mirror that was still dressed in the same pajamas he wore yesterday.

_Fuck it, I'll just wear these._ He grabbed an apple from the fridge and gobbled it down as he struggled with his labcoat. He stumbled out of the door to his lab with his coat still over his head and was shocked to see someone sitting in his chair in front of the control panel with her back to him.

"Excuse me, who the hell are you?" he asked.

"I'm your new assistant," she said in a calm, monotone voice. She turned around and he saw that she was dressed in a plain white lab coat, grey slacks and a grey sweater. Her face wasn't unattractive, but it was plain and devoid of any unusual features. Even her eyes were grey and washed out. All in all, she was bland and forgettable.

_I didn't realize you requested an assistant_, Valen said suspiciously.

_I didn't either_, Kirchoff replied in his head.

"Um, if you don't mind my asking, who sent you here?" Kirchoff asked the bland woman.

"Dr. Nigel sent me here to assist you in your research," she said in her unnerving monotone voice.

"I'll be sure to extend my thanks to Dr. Nigel."

_I do _not_ like her,_ Valen said to Kirchoff, _She gives me the creeps._

_Same here._

"Shall we begin Dr. Kirchoff?" the plain woman asked.

"I don't have time. I have a meeting to get to in half an hour."

"That meeting has been cancelled. Dr. Nigel says that you are to stay here and continue your research."

"Okay..." He was becoming very suspicious of his new 'assistant', "We can start with some basic stimulation with the water jets." He didn't think Valen would mind too much if he hosed him down a bit.

"Very well," the woman pressed several buttons and cranked a dial marked 'Water Pressure' up to the maximum.

"Wait, not that much!" Kirchoff shouted at the woman as jets of water powerful enough to punch through steel blasted from holes lining the side of the wall and slammed into Valen. He quickly turn the dial down so that the vicious torrent turned into a gentle spray.

"Valen! Are you okay?" Kirchoff shouted into the microphone.

_I just got hit by a water blast that almost ripped my limbs off, do you think I'm okay you dim witted idiot?!_ Valen snapped back. He tried to stand up, but collapsed to the ground in agony whenever he tried to put weight on his legs.

Kirchoff whirled around to face his new assistant who was sitting blank faced in front of the control panel.

"What the hell did you do that for? I wanted to do basic stimulation, not blast him to bits!" he yelled at her. She simply stared forwards ignoring him, "Hey, I asked you a question! Why did you do that?"

She turned her head to him and looked him dead in the eyes. He shivered under her cold, blank stare.

"Why should you care?" She asked, "It's only a Xenomorph."

The question wasn't out of the ordinary, but Kirchoff could sense the meaning behind it._ She's trying to get me in some kind of trouble._

"That is true, but he's also a valuable specimen," he said carefully, "I've made more progress studying him than any other researcher has in the past thirty years. There is still so much more research that I have to do."

"Such as?"

"Well, er…"

"You hesitated. Are you concealing information from me?" she asked. Suddenly, her tone wasn't bland and monotone, it was harsh and demanding. She stood up and glowered at Kirchoff, who shrank back a bit.

Despite her fearsome appearance, he refused to show weakness, especially in front of Valen who was watching the scene from behind the transparent wall, "Okay, that's it. Get out of here. Now!" He gestured at the door.

The woman narrowed her eyes at him. When she spoke again her voice was filled with venom, "What did you just say to me?"

"I told you to get out, you are not suitable as an assistant," he said more forcefully than before.

"Are you questioning the authority of Dr. Nigel?" the woman asked. Her voice was filled with malice.

Kirchoff knew he had to be careful. If this woman was working for Dr. Nigel, and he had no reason to suspect her of lying, then he had to choose his next words carefully. "No, I respect her decision to appoint you as my assistant," he said slowly and deliberately, "However, since you are working with me, it is my decision to make whether or not you are suitable to work with me, which I have decided against. Now leave before I call security."

The woman showed no signs of moving,"You overestimate your authority."

"Do I?" he asked.

"Yes," the woman said. As if a switch had been flicked, her voice had lost all of it's anger and had been replaced by the monotone blandness it had earlier. This scared Kirchoff more than if she had snapped at him.

"Good day Dr. Kirchoff," she said. She looked him in the eyes one last time, then bowed her head and left the room.

He stared after her for a few seconds, then turned his attention back to Valen. He had managed to stand up, but he was moving slowly, letting off hisses of pain every time he tried to move.

"How are you doing Valen?" he asked.

_I already told you, you imbecile!_ Valen shouted. _I'm in a lot of pain!_

"You know what I mean," he replied. "Any injuries that I should be worried about?"

_No, I'll heal,_ he curled up next to the fake wall near where Kirchoff stood at the control board. _Who the hell was that woman?_

"Someone we should be wary of. I think she was telling the truth when she was working for Dr. Nigel."

_Do you think that's a good thing?_

"No, just the opposite."

* * *

Dr. Nigel was sitting at her desk when she heard the light knock on her door.

"Come in," she called to the knocker. The door opened and a plain woman dressed in a labcoat and a grey sweatpants and shirt stepped into the room. "Ah, Julianne I assume?"

When Dr. Gavin had stopped by earlier, he said that she would be working with someone named Julianne, and that she would be stopping by later today to deliver the results of phase one of his experiment.

"Yes, ma'am," she said in a monotone voice.

"How are you doing?"

"Fine ma'am,"

Dr. Nigel waved her hand in a dismissive gesture, "Don't call me that. You make me feel like an old woman."

"As you wish Dr. Nigel."

Dr. Nigel stood up from her desk and looked the woman in the eyes. "I assume you have some results or else you wouldn't be here."

"Yes Dr. Nigel, I do."

She raised her eyebrows, "And?"

"Results are positive. We are ready to proceed with phase two"

She let out a dreary sigh, "I trust that you can deal with the subjects?"

"Yes Dr. Nigel."

"Good. We will commence in T minus 6 hours," she said, sitting back in her chair. "Let me know when it's all over."


	5. Chapter 5

"Alright Valen, I know you think you're fine, but I'm going in there to do an examination whether you like it or not." Kirchoff was fiddling with a series of wires under a panel next to the array of computers, which were shoved off to the side of the room. This computer in particular was the control panel to open a small hatch that lead into Valen's cell. Ordinarily it was used for maintenance purposes and had an alarm that would trigger if it was opened when the cell was occupied, but it was an easy matter for Kirchoff to disable the alarm system.

"Okay let's see if this worked," he muttered. He closed the panel and entered in a long series of passwords into the computer. At first, nothing happened.

_Maybe you messed up the computer thing when you entered a password?_ As smart as Valen was, he was utterly useless with computers.

"No, if the passwords failed it would show it on the screen. I probably messed up with the wiring," Kirchoff replied.

_You don't have to do this you know,_ Valen told him. _I can take care of myself perfectly fine._

"Yes, but I want to make sure that woman didn't cause any permanent damage." He opened up the panel again and made some changes in the wiring. "If this doesn't do it I don't know what will." He went back to the computer and reentered the series of passwords. This time a section of the wall slid into a compartment in the adjoining wall, leaving a hole barely big enough for Kirchoff to squeeze though.

_Kirchoff, what if you get in trouble?_ Valen asked worriedly.

"Relax you dumb Xeno," he said with a chuckle. "I've disabled all the cameras, security alarms, both silent and loud, and I've locked all of the doors manually."

_Still… _

"Quit your worrying," he said and crawled through the hole. The room looked different on this side of the double sided wall. The walls weren't perfectly white, but had a yellowish stain to them. He could clearly see the scratch marks on the walls from the time he came out to Valen as well as others that he couldn't have made out from the other side of the wall.

"This place is dirtier than I realized," he said to Valen, who was curled up in a corner of the room.

_Well it's not like I had my own personal janitor to clean this place up._

"You should have said something, I could have gotten someone to clean it for you."

_Yeah, like any sane human would enter a room with a live Xenomorph in it,_ Valen said with a snort.

"How do you do that anyways?" he asked.

_What, this?_ He snorted again.

"Yeah, you don't even have nostrils."

_Not ones that you can see anyways._

Kirchoff laughed. "Okay, down to business." He walked over to Valen who was still curled up in his corner.

_Are… are you sure you want to do this?_ he asked.

"Why wouldn't I? I know that you won't bite my face off." He reached out and placed his hand on Valen's head. It wasn't slimy like he suspected, but smooth and dry. He rubbed his hands up and down his elongated head and was surprised when he started to purr. He was like a giant, intelligent, deadly housecat. He chuckled and started to examine Valen's body for injuries. Kirchoff checked for any signs of unusual dents or cuts, but due to the coarse texture of his body it was hard to tell. Whenever he thought he found a wound, he would ask Valen if it hurt when he poked him. He didn't find any injuries on his arms or legs and his head was fine, but he couldn't see very well onto Valen's back, even if he was lying down.

"Hey Valen, move over for a minute, I'm going to check for injuries on your back."

_I'm fine, I told you!_ Valen tried to shove him away from his back with his tail, but Kirchoff fought against him.

"Quit trying to change my mind. I'm already in here and I'm not going to a half assed job."

He ducked under his tail, careful to avoid the spiked tip and leaped on Valen's back from behind. He wrapped his legs around the base of his tail and stretched as far as he could along his back until he grabbed hold of Valen's two lower dorsal tubes.

_Aaah, what… what're you…_ Valen stuttered before breaking off. He stopped fighting and flopped down on the floor, squirming and purring.

"What's with the sudden attitude change?" Kirchoff asked.

_Just… hurry up… mmmmh…_ Valen said. His words were slow and slurred in Kirchoff's mind, like he was hearing him with his ears were filled with water.

"Okay…" Kirchoff said warily. He started rubbing his hands over Valen's bumpy backside, looking for more injuries.

"Does this hurt?" he asked, pressing an indent in next to one of his dorsal tubes.

_Gah...N-n-no… oooh…_

"Are you sure? I can get off if it hurts too much."

_No… keep… ah… going…_

He rubbed up one of the doral tubes and Valen bucked and squirmed like crazy, almost throwing him off._ They must be really hurt,_ he thought, _I'd better get off._ Careful not to fall on Valen's tail or legs, he slid off Valen's back and stepped away from him, watching him writhe and purr. Eventually he came to his senses and looked over at Kirchoff, who was watching him with an amused smirk.

_Sorry about that…_ he said sheepishly.

"Don't be. They must be sensitive if they can make you wriggle like that," Kirchoff said. "It doesn't look like there are any serious injuries, just a few bruises and abrasions."

_Like I didn't already know that,_ Valen looked uncomfortable, shifting positions and squirming around as if he were trying to scratch and itch something without using his hands.

Kirchoff sat down crossed legged several feet away from Valen, not wanting to disturb him any more than he already had. He sat in silence for a long time just watching him before he asked a question that had been preying on his mind for some time. "Valen, do you know where you came from?"

_Yes, and I thought I already explained how babies are made to you. You know, with the facehuggers and the hosts._

"No, I meant do you know where you're species is from? Do you have some kind of homeworld, or are you some kind of experiment that was set loose?"

Valen froze where he was and looked over at Kirchoff._ What makes you ask something like that?_

Kirchoff wasn't entirely sure. He just stayed silent and waited for Valen to answer.

Valen continued to stare at Kirchoff, frozen with his back and tail raised in the air and his legs and arms spread out on both sides of his body. If it weren't for the atmosphere in the room, it would have been amusing. Eventually, he spoke. _To tell you the truth, I don't know where my species comes from. However, it's something I've always wondered about. I have always wanted to understand the origin of my kind, unlike so many other Xenomorphs who simply accept their lot in life. We have been given a terrible reputation, not without reason, and much to my dismay I am affected by it as well. Humans can't see beyond my appearance._

_Then there are the humans. Those blasted, ignorant, destructive, hate filled, megalomaniacal, idiotic, scum suckers!_ Valen thrashed his tail against the wall, making another gash in the surface._ Humans don't want to know us as beings with a history and a future! They don't even consider the fact that we just might be intelligent. They want to understand me as only an animal, a killing machine, a predator, and not as an intellectual mind, as a curious being, as a person!_

He heaved several deep breaths. Kirchoff was shocked. He knew Valen hated most humans, but he didn't know his resentment was so personal. Finally, Valen relaxed and walked gingerly over to Kirchoff. He scooted back a few feet out of instinct, but stopped and let him walk over. He walked behind Kirchoff and carefully wrapped his arms around him. _Kirchoff, you have done this. You have treated me as an equal and a friend, and that is the greatest thing you could possibly give me._

Valens words were touching, but the thing that took up most of Kirchoff's attention were the powerful black arms that were currently wrapped around him. _He's… hugging me?_ The most surprising thing about it was how gentle Valen was. His arms were strong enough to rip apart solid steel, but they held him as though he were a china doll that could break at the slightest touch. It was nice though, and he let Valen hold him for a while longer.

Kirchoff stayed wrapped in Valen's arms until he realized he had been there for over an hour.

"Hey Valen, I've got to get to bed."

_Can't you stay for a little while longer?_ he asked.

"Are you sick in the head or something? First, you didn't want me to come in, now you don't want me to leave!"

_I know, it's just…_

"Just what?" he asked. This was getting ridiculous.

_Nevermind. You'd better go to bed._

Kirchoff disentangled himself from Valen's arms and they walked the short distance to the maintenance door side by side. He was about pop out to return to his quarters when Valen's voice in his head stopped him, _Kirchoff._

"Yes Valen?"

_Thank you._

No insult on the end, no witty comment about his pathetic brain, no play on words.

"Did I just hear that right?" Kirchoff turned around and looked at Valen, who was curled up on the floor near the maintenance, "Did you actually just thank me?"

_I'm not going to say it again._

Kirchoff stared at Valen, who was still directly beside him. He caught his gaze, then looked away shyly.

_What is up with him?_ he thought. First his reaction when he was examining his back, the hug and now this. _I'll ask him about it tomorrow._

"I'll see you tomorrow Valen. Try to get some sleep." Just as he was about to climb back out into his side of the lab, the small maintenance door slammed shut.

"What the hell?" Kirchoff clawed at the panel, but it was no use. This place was designed to hold Xenomorphs after all. "Well shit. It looks like I'm sleeping with you tonight."

_Are you sure there aren't any other ways out?_

"Not a single one. The maintenance panel doesn't open from this side and this place was designed to hold Xenomorphs. Once you're in you aren't getting out." He plopped himself down on the floor and leaned back against the wall. "I just hope someone finds me in here, or it might not turn out so well for me."

_I'm sure you'll be fine,_ He reassured him.

"I sure as hell hope so." He curled up into the fetal position and tried to get as comfortable as possible. He was dead tired all of a sudden and he just wanted to go to sleep. Valen looked like he had the same idea since he curled himself up and rested his head on his arms, looking at him.

"Good night Valen."

_Good night Kirchoff._

And with that, he drifted off to sleep.

* * *

_What's wrong with me?_ Valen thought. Until tonight, he had seen Kirchoff merely as a friend, the one person who made the burden of living in the white walled room for over a year bearable. But now that he had actually come into his cell, cared for him, talked to him and touched him, he couldn't get him out of his mind. He loved the way his hands felt, so warm and careful as they ran along his skin. His body was so much warmer than his own. He could still feel it, press against his own as he examined his back for injuries. If felt unbelievably good when he ran his hands along the sensitive tubes on his back. He wonder how it would feel if Kirchoff were to mount him from behind and...

_No! No, no, no! I can't think about that,_ Valen shook his head violently._ I have to get my mind off of him._

He looked away from Kirchoff's sleeping form. This was difficult since Kirchoff was right there, and there wasn't too much room in the cell to ignore him easily. It was funny in a way, that he, a Xenomorph, one of the most deadly creatures in existence needed the protection of a mere human. A wonderful, caring and attractive…

_Who am I kidding,_ he thought._ I just can't do it, he's all I can think about._

He gave up and sprawled out on the floor on his stomach. _Kirchoff… Why you? Of all the beings to… to… love… why you?_

Maybe it was because Kirchoff was so different from the others. All of the other humans he had been met, even if only briefly, treated him like just another beast, and as a result held no qualms about hurting him. The only way Valen could have any kind of vengeance was to be surly, snarky and a general smartass by refusing to cooperate. This was made more effective by his unique ability to feel emotions and speak to people in their minds. He had no idea why he had it or how it truly functioned, but shortly after discovering it he put it to good use. Of all the people he had tried to be social with, only one of them had bothered to try and respond in any meaningful way, that of course being Kirchoff.

At first, Valen treated Kirchoff like all of the other scientists who came before him, but then he made the strange move of offering him a limited degree of freedom and protection in exchange for information. Valen supposed was only a matter of time before he came to respect, trust, like and eventually fall for Kirchoff. Kirchoff actually coming into his cell out of concern for his well being was the final nail in the coffin. Despite the fact that he was a weak, fleshy human, Valen had feelings for him.

_Not that I mind him being a human,_ Valen thought mischievously. _Oh, the things he could do with his hands…_

If only Kirchoff knew how much he had aroused him by feeling him up. His dorsal tubes in particular were loaded with sensitive nerve endings to detect changes in air temperature and pressure, and this made them extremely sensitive to touch. Before Valen could deal with the growing problem between his legs, a quiet hiss filled his ears. He looked around to try and identify the source of the sound. A strange scent filled his nostrils and his head felt light. He tried to stand up, but his legs felt weak and limp.A shadowy form standing at the control panel caught his attention.

_What'ssss thissss now?_ he thought. _Kirchoff, what are you doing?_ But Kirchoff was asleep in his cell, he wasn't operating the computer. Valen started to panic as he realized the danger they were in, but before he could do anything, his vision faded and he passed out.


	6. Chapter 6

"Rise and shine Kirchoff," a voice said. "You have a busy day ahead of you." A light was switched on and Kirchoff flinched as the bright light shone through his eyelids.

"No… I don't want to..." he mumbled. He was too sleepy to wake up anyways.

"Get up!" A hand slapped his face, startling him into consciousness. His eyes burned due to the extremely bright light shining directly above him, and he couldn't see much of his immediate surroundings.

"What is… going on?" he mumbled, a bit louder this time.

"Don't worry your silly little head about that," the voice said. It sounded vaguely familiar, but his mind was so foggy that he couldn't put his finger on it. He felt hands running across his head and arms, strapping small things to his arms and head. Kirchoff tried to raise his head and see what they were doing, but his head was strapped down. He wriggled his arms and legs experimentally and found that they were also bound. Kirchoff struggled weakly against his restraints, but it was futile.

"Help…" he whispered. "Someone… help me…"

A sharp stab in his arm made him wince, then the fuzzy feeling he was trying to fight off returned, stronger than before, dragging him towards unconsciousness.

Before he slipped off again, he heard the voice again. "Enjoy your nap Kirchoff," It told him.

* * *

The loud siren roused Valen from his position on the floor. He scrambled and flailed on the floor, preparing to fight of an invader before he realized what was going on. Just as quickly as it had started, the siren cut out, leaving the whitewashed room eerily silent. Valen rolled over and tried to haul himself upright, but as soon as he tried to stand, his head spun and the world around him blurred. The next thing he knew he was lying sprawled out on his front on the floor.

_W… What… What…?_ He tried to speak, but he couldn't get the words out. The world was spinning too fast and his head was too fuzzy. He just closed his eyes and waited for his mind to clear.

As time went on, his head began to clear and the world stopped rocking around enough for him to get a good look at his surroundings. The bleached white walls and floor indicated that he was still in his cell, although whether or not that was a good thing was debatable. It appeared to be the same as always. White walls, white floor, white ceiling. Kirchoff was probably in the other room already and... Kirchoff!

Valen sprang to his feet and quickly scanned the cell. Nothing. Kirchoff was gone.

_No!_ _No no no! This can't be happening!_ He started to panic. His heart pounded and his breathing became shallow and rapid.

Just when he thought everything was getting better, it had all collapsed. Kirchoff was gone to who knows where. Probably locked up in an asylum somewhere. And he was all alone.

_Kirchoff… Where have they taken you…_ He heaved a sigh. The brief moment of panic he had felt had evaporated and hopelessness had come to take its place. The other humans could be doing any number of things to him right now and there was nothing he could do about it. Valen flopped back down and stared at the wall, wallowing in misery.

That was when he noticed something odd about the wall, or rather all the walls. They seemed to be much closer together, and suspiciously free of scratches and gouge marks. He got up and inspected the walls closer. Not a single mark or scuff, and they were completely free of discoloration.

Odd, Valen thought. He had no idea how long he had been out, but it didn't feel long enough for his cell to be completely cleaned and repaired. While he was still inside no less. _They must have moved me somewhere else._

Out of nowhere another siren blared out, forcing Valen to cover his ears with his hands and curl up into a ball until it stopped. When the siren ceased, Valen saw that one of the walls had turned transparent and what he saw on the other side certainly shocked him. In a chair in the middle of the enclosed area on the other side of the wall was Kirchoff. His arms and legs were bound with a series of metal restraints and a single strap restrained his head and body. His eyes were closed but Valen could see his mouth was moving ever so slightly. Valen pressed his head against the section of wall closest to Kirchoff.

_Kirchoff!_ Valen shouted mentally. _Kirchoff, can you hear me?_

"Ah Valen, I see you're awake," a familiar voice said over the hidden speakers. A slim figure walked into the room. Valen hissed at the plain woman as she walked over to Kirchoff's chair and stood beside him.

"How are you doing?" she asked. "The accommodations are more than adequate I trust."

Valen hissed viciously in response. He raked the wall with his claws and smashed his tail against the floor as a sign of aggression. The woman only tutted and shook her head.

"Now now Valen, don't worry. You aren't at risk of any harm."

Valen stopped attacking the room, but kept up a low hissing. He wasn't going to let his guard down completely.

"However your friend Kirchoff here," She patted Kirchoff on the cheek. "Isn't so lucky."

Valen's hissing petered out as the meaning of her words registered. If he wasn't going to be hurt, that meant that Kirchoff…

The woman calmly and deliberately reached behind herself and revealed a small rectangular object with a series of small buttons on it's surface. She stood back from Kirchoff's chair and pressed a button. Kirchoff jerked and shouted as electricity sparked from the metal bands on his body. Valen let out a screech of desperation. He clawed at the transparent wall, slashed at it with his tail and even tried to climb it. In a final act of desperation, Valen reached out with his mind into Kirchoff's. He only made a brief contact before he shrieked in agony. The pain Kirchoff felt was so intense that he couldn't keep the connection going. He could do nothing but watch helplessly as Kirchoff was electrocuted in front of him.

The woman, who was watching the whole scene with a look of bland amusement, pressed another button on her remote and the electricity ceased. Kirchoff slumped against his restraints. His hair was smoking slightly and his breathing was shallow, but he was still alive.

"That was only the lowest setting," the woman said to Valen. He was pressing his head against the glass, trying desperately to talk with Kirchoff. All he got out of him was a faint feeling of recognition.

"I admire your efforts, but it would be futile to try and communicate with him in this state. He'll be incapacitated for hours." She put her remote in her pocket and from pulled out a needle from another. It was empty, but the woman pulled out a vial from the same pocket as the needle. The woman held it up to the light and and peered at it's contents.

"This chemical will not kill your beloved Kirchoff," she said. "But it does cause unbearable pain for hours after administration."

Valen turned his gaze to the woman. His whole body trembled. It was one thing to torture him, but to harm Kirchoff was unforgivable. He opened his mouth and poured all the pent up hatred and anger he felt for Kirchoff's tormentor into a deafening, bloodcurdling scream.

* * *

Dr. Nigel dashed her headphones from her ears. She could see everything that was going on in the room from a set of monitors on one of the walls of her small personal laboratory situated in a room behind her office. One by one, the view in the monitors wavered, then the lenses in the hidden cameras shattered and gave the room a fuzzy, fractured appearance. She took a step back from the monitors and rubbed her temples to try and get rid of the sudden headache caused by the terrible noise Valen had made. Even though she had only heard the muffled version produced by her headphones, the sound he had pierced her eardrums like a pair of hot irons.

While Nigel rubbed her ears she looked down at a table strewn with various papers, audio logs and half eaten lunches. Scattered all over this table was the cumulative effort of three years of tedious research, all focused on one particular objective. To determine the nature of Valen's unique telepathic ability in a massive experiment that had been dubbed Project Cantharides. This was the pinnacle of her career, the project that would revolutionize the human understanding of the Xenomorph mind.

And then Gavin had to come along with his little proposed test and fuck it all up. She clenched her fists and tried not to scream curses at the man. He had been trying to interfere with her project since day one. He saw the potential uses of her project beyond simple knowledge. Namely developing weaponry designed to kill Xenomorphs.

Dr. Gavin had started off as a weapons designer for Weyland-Yutani, then he moved on to more advanced forms of killing. Toxic gas, high explosives powerful enough to rip apart a solid steel box several meters thick, venoms of the local wildlife, purified and synthesised into lethal and pain inducing man held a deep burning hatred for the creatures and wanted nothing more than to see them eradicated from the universe. She hadn't known until now how far the man would go to get his way until now.

Dr. Nigel let out a sigh. It was such a shame that Kirchoff had to be hurt in this way. She genuinely liked the man, both as a friend and as a scientist. Despite that, she had to carry out the damn test if she wanted to keep her career, and by extension her organs, intact. She knew far too much for her to simply be fired. She turned her attention back to the fractured view of the room through the monitor and could vaguely make out Julianne holding up a vial filled with a pain inducing chemical. If the electrocution failed to produce a reaction in Valen, the next step would be to inject Kirchoff with a drug that would cause him pain for hours on end. Dr. Nigel thought about the horrid sound Valen had made.

That was proof enough for her. She held a headphone close to her ear to check if Valen was still screaming, but he had thankfully stopped. She placed the headphones over her head and spoke into a microphone located on the side of the headphones, "Julianne, can you hear me?"

* * *

Valen had stopped screaming and was grinding his claws against the wall while glaring at the woman with all the concentrated hatred he could muster. He had tried to reach out to her mind and rip it to shreds, but he couldn't seem to find her. So all he could do was glare. She was still standing next to Kirchoff with the vial in one hand and the needle in the other. If she wanted to, she could have injected Kirchoff as soon as she stopped talking, but she appeared to be waiting for something.

"Julianne, can you hear me?" A voice said over the speakers.

_Julianne,_ Valen thought. _Julianne… What an interesting name..._

Julianne remained stony faced on the other side of the transparent wall. She pressed two fingers into her ear and spoke. "Yes Dr. Nigel."

"We've done enough, let Kirchoff go," Dr. Nigel said.

"What?" Julianne looked shocked. "I was under the impression that we were going to do the full set of tests…"

"I believe that the data we have is more than sufficient," Dr. Nigel cut in. "Now, release Kirchoff and report to my office now."

"Ma'am, I must disagree with you on this issue. We cannot be certain of the subject's reaction until we perform the full range of tests."

"We have enough, Julianne." Dr. Nigel said more forcefully. "Report to my office immediately."

"Ma'am, I will not decrease the validity of our data by omission of necessary experiments."

"Julianne! I order you to report to my office now!"

"Very well ma'am." Julianne turned her back to Valen as if she were leaving, but she turned around again with the needle raised in her hand.

"Julianne," Dr. Nigel's voice was laced with suspicion. "What are you doing?"

Julianne ignored Dr. Nigel and faced Kirchoff who was still lying limp in his chair. His chest rose and fell in short, fluttering bursts.

"Julianne, if you're doing what I think you're doing, then I will have you…" Her voice cut out when Julianne took the needle, jabbed it into Kirchoff's arm and depressed the plunger. Kirchoff writhed and moaned weakly as the drug worked it's way into his system. Julianne took out her remote and pressed another button. The restraints on Kirchoff's body retracted into the chair and he slumped onto the floor. She nodded and walked over to a wall, where a panel slid open to a long, dark hallway. Just before she left, she pressed another button on the remote over her shoulder. The invisible wall that separated Valen from the other side of the room began to slide silently down into the floor. Unwilling to wait for the wall to fully lower, Valen backed up and took a running leap at the wall. He didn't manage to jump over it, but he latched onto the lip of the wall with his claws and vaulted himself over. He landed next to Kirchoff who was groaning weakly in a ball on the floor. Not wanting to cause Kirchoff any more discomfort, Valen gently dragged Kirchoff away from the chair with his tail and curled himself around him. He pressed his forehead into Kirchoff's hair, trying to be as close to him as possible as the chemical burned through his veins.

* * *

"God damnit!" Dr. Nigel slammed her fists on her desk, sending papers a few stray papers onto the floor. "Why the fucking hell did you inject him?!"

"I deemed it necessary for the integrity of the experiment." Julianne said in her usual monotone voice.

"I explicitly ordered you to stop the trial and come to my office." Dr. Nigel shouted. "You disobeyed a direct order from your superior!"

"No," Julian interjected.

"What?"

"You ordered that I report to your office. You did not at any point say to stop the trial."

Dr. Nigel went silent, staring at her hands and mulling over what Julianne had said. "Be that as it may, I still ordered you to immediately report to me, which you did not do."

She looked up at Julianne, "You do realize I will have to reprimand you."

"I am aware."

"Very good. From now on you are no longer an active member of Project Cantharides. You will report to information technology services for reprogramming and reassignment tomorrow at eight hundred hours."

"Yes ma'am."

"Now get out of my sight."

Julianne turned on her heels and walked out of the room. Dr. Nigel stood still at her desk, staring down at the papers strewn messily over her desk.

_What the hell have I done?_


	7. Chapter 7

The passage of time went unnoticed by Kirchoff. The only thing that registered was the pain. All he felt was pain. The sensation was similar to that of scalding his hand on a hot plate when he was a kid living in the colonies, but this was a whole new level of agony. It felt like all the blood in his body had been replaced with boiling water. Every beat of his heart sent a fresh wave of burning pain through his body.

But eventually, the searing sensation began to ebb. His other senses slowly began to come back. The first thing that returned was his sense of smell, and with it came an intense metallic odor. Soon after his taste returned and it tasted like he hadn't brushed his teeth in a week and the ringing in his ears showed that at least he didn't lose his hearing. Once the ringing died down slightly, Kirchoff could pick up a faint breathing. It took some time to fix the location in his mind, but it appeared to be coming from just beside his head. The sound was vaguely familiar and comforting. He laid still until a tingling sensation started running over his body. It felt pleasant at first, but the tingling quickly turned into a sharper pain. It felt as if his entire body had fallen asleep on him. He writhed in discomfort which only made the prickling sensation worse. As he did so he noticed that he was surrounded by something. It felt smooth and hard, but warm from where something had been pressed against it.

His wiggling had an effect on the thing that was surrounding him. It moved in response to his touch, unfurling itself and pressing against his head.

_Kirchoff,_ A voice sounded in his head. He didn't hear it per se, but it sounded familiar. _Kirchoff, can you hear me?_

_Who's there? _he thought sluggishly.

Kirchoff felt a feeling of hurt and worry from the thing in his head._ Kirchoff it's me, Valen._

_Valen… _the name floated in his head. _Valen… Valen! Valen, what's going on? Where am I?_

_Calm down,_ Valen said._ You're safe now._

He tried to say the words out loud, but they just wouldn't come. _Where are we?_ he asked mentally.

_Open your eyes stupid,_ Valen said with a hint of annoyance.

Kirchoff cracked his eyelids open a fraction and was blinded by a light so intense it brought tears to his eyes. He put his hands over his face and rubbed his eyes to try and dull the pain.

"Aaah!" he shouted.

_What's wrong?_ asked Valen. The annoyance in his voice had been replaced with concern.

_It's too bright, I can't see, _Kirchoff told him.

_That's odd. It isn't that bright in here._

_Wait, Valen… How long was I out?_

_I can't say for sure, _Valen said. _But I think it's been two or three days._

_Three days!_

_Hey, it might have been two._

Kirchoff didn't respond. Three days. He had been out for three days. Keeping one hand over his eyes, he propped himself up into a sitting position. When he did the horrible prickling sensation returned. Kirchoff moved one leg in a spirit of curiosity. This time he noticed that only parts of his skin that hurt were the parts in contact with his pant leg.

_What happened?_ He asked.

_That woman from the other day was the one that did it. Julianne, I think her name was. You were strapped to a chair She shocked you and she was going to inject you with some kind of chemical, but Dr. Nigel tried to stop her..._

_Wait, Dr. Nigel?_

_Yes, I just said that. She said something about having enough data for a test. But Julianne didn't listen and she injected you anyways and left. I've been waiting for you to get up since then._

_Have any of the humans visited?_

_No, they didn't want to enter the chamber._

_Why not?_ Kirchoff inquired. _They could have just gassed us and it would have been no trouble._

_I don't think they wanted to hurt you further._

He pondered that for a little while._ So… Did you stay by my side the whole time I was out?_

_Yes,_ Valen said, almost sheepishly. _I was afraid something might happen to you if I left you._

_Thank you. That was really, well… sweet of you._

_You are welcome._ Kirchoff felt Valen's head rub against his and felt him purring.

* * *

Dr. Nigel was sitting in her private laboratory at the table strewn with reports. She had never been a particularly organized person, and that made it more than a bit hard to track down documents when she needed them. However, it wasn't the reports that occupied her attention. She was staring intently at one of the monitors on the wall that gave her a clear fractured view of the room Valen and Kirchoff were being held in. Valen had wrapped himself protectively around Kirchoff's vulnerable form after his torture and hadn't moved since. From this angle she could get a glimpse at Kirchoff, wrapped up in Valen's embrace.

She rubbed her tired baggy eyes and took a gulp of coffee directly from a pot sitting on the table. Over the past three days, she had been observing Valen and Kirchoff nonstop, constantly watching for any change in Kirchoff's condition. By the looks of it hadn't handled his torture very well. Both of the tests that were performed were designed to be used on Xenomorphs. She had no idea what effect this might have had on his body, and she hadn't dared risk trying to remove him for fear of what the sleeping gas would do to him.

A flash of movement on the screen caught her attention. It was brief, but there was definitely movement in the chamber. She leaned in close to the monitor to try and get a better look. Even though the image was disrupted by the cracks in the camera's lens, she could see that Kirchoff had started to move. He wasn't moving very much, just wiggling faintly inside Valen's embrace, but he was definitely moving. As she watched Kirchoff slowly roused and sat up. Dr. Nigel heaved a sigh of relief. He was going to be okay. The headset she usually wore was lying discarded amidst the papers on the table. She hurriedly put them on and pressed the siren button to give the two a heads up.

Valen showed his usual display of discomfort, putting his hands up to his ear holes and hissing in annoyance. She chuckled a bit at his antics, but her laughter stopped when she looked over at Kirchoff.

* * *

Kirchoff felt like two spikes were being driven into his ears. The sound of the siren was so loud that he was forced to cover his ears and curl into a ball to try and blot out the ear splitting noise. He felt Valen try to contact him mentally, but he couldn't maintain it more than a couple seconds before retreating. Fortunately, the siren was mercifully short and it cut out after only a was at his side almost immediately, gently nudging him with his head.

_Get up Kirchoff,_ he sounded worried. _Get up!_

Cautiously, he removed his hands from his ears and sat up from his position on the floor.

_Valen, what was that? _Kirchoff asked

_That was the siren they sound when they want to get our attention._

_Is it always so fucking loud?_

_It's loud certainly, but it's not that loud, _Valen sounded a little concerned. _Are you okay?_

_I don't know, _Kirchoff replied._ Everything feels more intense…_

"Kirchoff," a voice blared out over the speakers. "Can you hear me?"

The sudden spike of pain the sound brought on made Kirchoff almost pass out. His eyes rolled under his eyelids and he collapsed on his back. Valen hissed in alarm and wrapped himself protectively around Kirchoff. Kirchoff lay in Valen's embrace, dazed. Something was definitely wrong. He had never been incapacitated like this before, even after he had been gassed and drugged.

"Kirchoff," the voice boomed over the speakers. "Are you alright? Can you speak?"

He flinched at the noise and pain spiked through his head, although not as bad as before since Valen's body was insulating him from the sound.

"Kirchoff, can you hear me?" She shouted again.

With a great effort, he opened his mouth and shouted as loud as he could, "Shut up!"

The energy it took to yell made his head throb and coherent thought was impossible. While he recuperated he heard Valen in his head, quietly speaking soothing words and comforting him as best he could. When his head didn't feel like it was splitting in half anymore, he removed his hand from his ears.

"What's going on Dr. Nigel?" He asked in a quiet voice, being careful not to hurt his voice.

"Kirchoff, I'm going to be honest and upfront with you," Dr. Nigel said again, her voice much quieter than it was before. "All of the research you've been doing for the past two years has been a front for the real research project I was conducting."

"Wait, what? What do you mean?"

"I mean I already knew most of what was in your reports about the emotional state of Xenomorphs. All the data you've been receiving from that computer setup of yours was all nonsense. I wouldn't have done something so complicated if I just wanted to study the emotional activity of a Xenomorph. I can do that with a modified EEG* and a some vials of drugs. The real reason you're still here is because of your relationship to Valen. It seems that you two had a lot to talk about over the past year."

_A lot to talk about… _"You know about Valen's ability?" He asked.

"Of course. I was the one who discovered his little telepathy trick in the first place." His mind reeled. If she knew about that, what else did she know?

Dr. Nigel continued, not noticing his reaction, "The real reason that you were allowed to stay with Valen for so long was because you helped provide us with so much insight into Valen's telepathy. I wanted to study Valen to find out the exact extent of his mental abilities. Of course I didn't want to endanger myself, and Valen refused to co-operate with me anyways. So I set up this little experiment."

"The original plan was to have a group of scientists interact with Valen one at a time, where the brain activity of the scientist and Valen would be closely monitored. That lab of yours is a highly sophisticated piece of technology that can monitor almost everything going on in your body. As soon as Valen showed any kind of mental communication with their human counterpart, we would start recording the neural activity of Valen and the scientist studying him. You were incredibly invaluable. All you two did was talk to each other, and the sheer amount of data we got from watching and listening the two of you was astounding. It was still only a bits and pieces compared to what I would have liked to learn though and if it was up to me I would have continued the project unhindered, but we hit a bit of a dry spell. And Dr. Gavin..."

She paused, as though collecting herself. When she spoke again her voice was a little bit tighter and high pitched.

"Then… Dr. Gavin started interfering in my plans. Please understand that I tried to protect you for as long as I could, but he was getting impatient. My intention was only to study Valen and the scientist he was with for as long as possible, but that wasn't enough for Dr. Gavin. He wanted to take it a step further. He was the one who orchestrated phase two of the plan, which was simply to torture you to see how Valen would react. I didn't want to hurt you, but I was under a lot of pressure I didn't have time to change my plans. I'm sorry for what I've done to you, but just know that it was all for the sake of science."

"Fuck your science!" If she expected that watered down, bullshit excuse to cut it, then she was sorely mistaken. His soreness and tiredness were washed away in a sudden tide of immense anger. He felt it rising up from the pit of his stomach, searing through his chest and out through the rest of his body. "Do you have any idea what the fuck I've been through? What you've put me through!? No, you don't, because you weren't injected with pain inducing drugs and almost electrocuted to death! And since you've been secretly been studying me and Valen for the past year, I would assume that you would have deduced that we had some kind of close relationship. What exactly did you expect to accomplish by threatening my life?"

"I… I don't know," She faltered. "Dr. Gavin wanted to see how Valen would react in that kind of a situation... "

"Well guess what? You're little Project Cantha… whatever-the-fuck… would have completely bombed if I had died!"

"Kirchoff, it wasn't my fault..."

"Bullshit! You tried to stop it once you saw me being tortured, Valen told me! You could have done something to stop it earlier!"

"Kirchoff, my hands were tied. There was nothing I could do!"

"Really? You couldn't try to call off Julianne before she tortured me!"

"I tried, but she wouldn't listen!"

"Well maybe you should have tried harder!"

That shut her up.

"What did you think Dr. Gavin was really going to accomplish with all of this? Do you understand the danger you put both of us in? It took a long fucking time for Valen to warm up to me, so what do you think would have happened if I did die? That you would just start over from the beginning until you got everything he wanted? If I died, Valen would have probably flipped shit and killed himself, and you'd be up shit creek without a paddle! What would you have to show for you're precious little experiment then? Nothing but bits and pieces!"

He was screaming at the top of his voice now. The metallic taste of blood filled his throat, but he kept on yelling. "You know what might have been a tad simpler? You could have just told me about your precious little project from the beginning, and I would have gladly gone along with whatever you were planning! I'm just as curious about how Valen's ability works as you are!"

"Kirchoff… I…"

"You know, for a doctor who is known for her brutal clarity and efficiency, you really screwed the pooch on this one! And to top it all off, you openly admitted that outright tortured me to get what you wanted out of me! Go fuck yourself Dr. Nigel!"

"I'm so sorry Kirchoff… I didn't want to, but Dr. Gavin…"

"_FUCK YOU!"_ It felt like his vocal cords were being ripped to shreds. Tears streamed from his face and his head felt like it was going to split in half. Valen rushed back to his side and screamed at the camera. Then he quickly wrapped himself around him, blocking out the rest of the world. He sobbed and sobbed until he could shed no more tears, and eventually he passed out.

* * *

*Electroencephalograph: An instrument that measures electrical potentials on the scalp and generates a record of the electrical activity of the brain.


	8. Chapter 8

When Kirchoff was screaming at the woman, Valen felt like time had frozen. He had seen him brutalized so much over the last few days that any amount of pain Kirchoff felt was cause for concern, but the sheer anger and hurt the Kirchoff felt was utterly brutal. In an instant he curled around Kirchoff protectively to shield him from the sound the idiotic human, Dr. Nigel speaking over the microphone. It had been a long time since he had last heard her voice, but it was not pleasant to hear it again under the circumstances.

_Dr. Nigel…_ The very thought of her now made his blood boil. She openly admitted to torturing Kirchoff and had very nearly killed him, and that was unforgivable. Valen didn't sleep at all while Kirchoff was passed out in his arms. He remained curled around him and hissing whenever he thought he heard Dr. Nigel trying to use the intercom.

Eventually, Kirchoff began to stir in his arms. Valen started and quickly made contact with his mind. _Kirchoff! Kirchoff, can you hear me._

His mind was a blur of half formed thoughts and emotions. His outburst yesterday had really taken it's toll on him. He did his best to comfort Kirchoff, speaking softly to him and nuzzling his head. Eventually, his roiling consciousness began stabilize into coherent thoughts. Kirchoff tried to say something, but voice was incredibly ragged and hoarse and he couldn't make anything out.

_Valen._ Even his mental voice sounded weak and raspy. _Can you write?_

_Write?_ Valen had no idea. _What do you mean?_

_Can you write a sentence?_

_In english? I'm not sure, I've never done it before._

_Can you write a word?_ he asked. _It's important._

_Maybe,_ He was very doubtful of ability to write, but if Kirchoff thought it important then he had to try._ What do you want me to write?_

* * *

Dr. Nigel was sitting in a chair directly in front of the monitor. She didn't dare take her eyes off of the screen. Kirchoff's reaction and outburst had revealed just how badly he had been hurt, and it was all her fault.

Of course she had tried to hide behind the excuse that it wasn't her fault, that Dr. Gavin made her do it, that Julianne had been the one to torture him, but in the end, she knew it was her own inaction that had caused him so much pain.

She also wanted to get him out of the chamber and have him examined, but there would be no way of safely extracting him while Valen was there. If she had to guess, anyone who entered the cell would get torn to shreds by Valen. All she could do was wait. It took a long time, but eventually she saw Valen unfurl himself from around Kirchoff and walked to the wall near the center of the room. She watched him as intently, wondering what he was going to do. He paced back and forth along the wall, then he slashed repeatedly at it with his claws leaving a rough yet distinct series of lines on the wall. When he was done, he backed off to admire his handiwork. She peered at the marking closely. It looked like a load of gibberish, and the cracks in the camera's lense didn't help. Valen tilted his head in Kirchoff's direction, then went back to work clawing away at the wall.

Over the next little while, she watched him as he carved multiple lines and squiggles into the side of the wall under Kirchoff's direction. She could tell since Valen looked over to him periodically as if waiting for instructions. In no time Valen finished his work and stepped back. Dr. Nigel leaned forwards until her face was only a few feet from the looked hard at the lines and squiggles on the wall, trying to look for any meaning in them. They made absolutely no sense, except for one at the end, which she could have sworn looked like… a D. There at the end was a rough yet clearly visible capital D.

"Well, well," she said to herself. "This is interesting." Since she didn't dare speak again, she would have to decipher this word herself. Now that she knew the scribbles were letters

"KE… Y… BOA… R… D," she muttered. "Keyboard? What on earth did he mean by… oh! That clever son of a bitch. I didn't think of that."

Dr. Nigel rushed out of her lab and back to her office. She shifted the papers on her desk until she uncovered her intercom she used for conversations better left off official audio records.

"Stephenson, I want you to bring be a set of 2-way communication monitors from the hospital," she told the intercom.

"Um, very well ma'am," Stephenson said. "May I ask why?"

"No you may not," she replied. "Now go get me those tablets. And if anyone asks why you're getting them, say that they're defective and being scraped."

"Yes ma'am."

* * *

Valen watched silently as the fake wall slid back up into position. He would have dearly loved to hide behind the door and rip the woman's throat out when she appeared, but Kirchoff told him to wait with him. Dr. Nigel had briefly talked over the speakers in a muted voice about her plan, which Kirchoff and Valen agreed to with quiet nods. Valen glanced down at Kirchoff who was standing shakily with both his hands up against his shiny black hide. Although he had been recovering remarkably fast, he was still very weak and sensitive. Any sort of loud noise caused his extreme discomfort and he had to squint in order to look around the room.

He had also removed almost all of his clothing except for the garments covering his private area. Kirchoff explained that it itched like crazy whenever his clothes rubbed against his skin and Valen could see the rash all over his body that he got from his clothing. Although it made Kirchoff feel better, it was hard for Valen to ignore the rather noticeable bulge in Kirchoff's undergarments. He caught himself catching glances down at his crotch before looking away hurriedly. Now was not the time or place. Valen told himself this repeatedly, but it didn't make it any easier to resist staring.

His attention was drawn away from Kirchoff when a door opened up on their side of the room. It was only raised about 6 inches, so there was so opportunity for escape there. A thin black pad was shoved through the crack and the door swiftly shut.

_Can you get that? _Kirchoff asked.

_Fine, but sit down first. You'll fall over._

_I'll be fine._

Valen snorted. _And I'm not moving until you sit down and get comfortable._

_Alright._ Kirchoff obediently sat down with his legs crossed.

_I said comfortable,_ Valen said. Kirchoff laid down on the floor and waved his arms back and forth like he was making a snow angel.

_Happy now?_

_I said get comfortable, not have a fit._

Kirchoff sat back up and looked at Valen irritatedly. _Just get the tablet. _

Obediently, Valen walked over to the small black monitor on the floor and slid it over to Kirchoff. He picked it up and held it close to his face. It was an unremarkable thing, about eight inches long on both sides with a thin body and a flat touch screen. It was modeled after the ancient cell phone technology developed on earth over a century ago. Nevertheless it was effective at what it did. It was used to communicate with hospital patients who couldn't or were forbidden to speak. He fumbled around with the sides of the tablet until his fingers stumbled on the power button. He pressed it and was blinded by the sudden brightness of the screen. He tilted it away and waited until the glow projected on his hands dimmed before tilting it towards his face again. The light still hurt, but it was bearable. On the bottom half of the screen was a keyboard complete with symbols and numbers. The top half was left blank for text.

Kirchoff fiddled around with the brightness settings for a bit, then typed out a message on the pad.

SYS: Communication Opened.

K: You can come in now. We're ready.

The door behind the transparent wall and Dr. Nigel came through, dragging a chair on wheels behind her with one hand and a black tablet identical to Kirchoff's in the other. She walked up to the wall, sat herself down on her chair and began to type rapidly.

N: How are you? Are you okay?

_Are you okay?_ Valen snorted. _What kind of a question is that._

Kirchoff just shook his head and typed.

K: Turn down the lights. It's too bright in here.

N: Yes. Give me a second.

She pulled a black remote out of her pocket and pressed a button several times. The lights in the room dimmed until it was almost in darkness

N: Is that better?

K: Much better. I can open my eyes all the way now.

N: What's wrong with your eyes? I can barely see anything.

Kirchoff looked at Valen who was busy cleaning himself. _What?_

_Stop that, it's distracting._

_Oh, I'm distracting am I?_

_Yes, please stop it._

_No. You're distracting me from my cleaning._

Kirchoff groaned aloud._ Dear God, I forgot how annoying you can be sometimes._

_You're one to talk. Scaring me half to death these past few days._

_That wasn't my fault!_

_No, but you were still annoying._

_How?_

_You just were._

_Gah! Will you be quiet!_

_No._

N: Are you quite done there?

Kirchoff looked over at Dr. Nigel who was looking at them with a bemused expression. Their mental argument must not have been as discreet as he thought even in the near darkness.

N: I can see you two are still getting used to living with each other. How's the conversation?

Right. She knew about that. Yesterday's conversation crept back to the forefront of his thoughts and a scowl made it's way across his face.

K: Fine. But just in case you forgot, you ordered my torture several days ago. So conversation hasn't exactly been my number one priority.

He looked over at Dr. Nigel, trying to gauge her reaction. She looked up and he saw the sorrow and regret in her eyes.

N: Kirchoff, I truly am sorry for what I did to you. I only acted under duress and if it was up to me, I never would have done anything to you. Is there any way I can make it up to you?

_Is there any way I can make it up to you…_ _Can you think of a way she can make it up to you, because I'm totally at a loss._ Valen said sarcastically.

K: Let me think.

* * *

Dr. Nigel spun her chair around in a circle. Kirchoff and Valen had been talking for the past ten minutes. Even though she couldn't hear them speaking, she knew they would undoubtedly be chatting up a storm. She had deliberately given them a very generous offer and they were going to take full advantage of it. She knew that she was probably going to regret it sometime in the future, but it still helped ease her guilty conscience.

A quiet ding from the tablet in her hand indicated Kirchoff's reply.

K: I've made up my mind. We want to be moved to a better place to live, with guaranteed protection. And we want to be able to make requests for supplies whenever we feel like it.

She may have made a generous offer, but that was pushing it just a bit.

N: I can't just move you two Kirchoff, the sheer amount of paperwork required to move you here was astronomical. Not to mention I need the approval of at least a dozen officials, and not all of them can be bought off easily.

K: I don't give a shit about how hard it is. These are my demands and you're not in any position to deny me what I want.

N: Really? And why is that?

K: Because I'm so frail at the moment I'd probably die if you so much as sneezed on me. Need I remind you that if I kick the bucket, your little experiment, what was it called, Project Cantharides, will have been for naught and you'll lose everything. And you need Valen too if your little experiment is going to pay off. And if something unfortunate were to happen to me…

She felt the blood drain from her face as she read the text. His message trailed off, but the implications of it were crystal clear. And he was completely right too. As much as she wanted to deny it, her project, her entire career, and possibly her life rested on Kirchoff and Valen. If she wanted their cooperation, she would have to give them what they wanted. Anything she could do to reason with them wouldn't accomplish anything at this point, and besides, did she really _want _to deny Kirchoff's request. After all she did to him?

* * *

_Valen, you're brilliant,_ Kirchoff thought.

_I thought that was obvious,_ he replied. _But thank you anyways._

_I mean it!_ he gushed._ That was awesome. I couldn't have worded it better myself._

_I've been told I drive a hard bargain._

_I never said that._

_No, but you've thought it._

_I can never have any real privacy with you can I?_

_No, not really._

Kirchoff looked back over at Dr. Nigel. She was still sitting with the same expression of shock on her face when she first read Valen's message. Of course he didn't tell her it was from Valen, but that made it all the more effective. She clearly thought of herself as an exceptional dealmaker, but she had never had an argument with anyone the same caliber as Valen.

K: So, what are your thoughts?

It was a long time before she responded. Kirchoff leaned back up against Valen who was curled up behind him. When she finally responded, she chose her words carefully.

N: This is my proposal. In exchange for your's and Valen's guaranteed safety and comfort, you have to keep participating in my little project. None of the tests you will undergo will be designed to harm or torture information or reactions out of you in any way. To use those methods now would be barbaric and counterproductive. In addition, Kirchoff, you must have weekly checkups with my personal physician to monitor your condition. I don't want you to keel over and die on us.

_Well, what do you think?_ he asked Valen.

_It seems a reasonable agreement,_ he sniffed. _We could use some better living quarters though if the two of us are going to end up living together._

_Who says we'll be living together?_

_I do,_ he let out a low growl. _And if you argue, I'm going to wrap you up and carry you around like a sack of potatoes.._

_Do you even know what potatoes are?_

_No, but I'll still wrap you up and carry you around like a sack of potatoes._

K: We agree, on one condition. Valen and I will share the same living quarters at all times. And not just an empty white room either, something comfortable and roomy. Xeno's aren't big fans of being cooped up for long periods of time.

N: Deal. Any other requests.

K: Can I get some food and water. I'm starving and my throat hurts.

N: I'll have something sent down.

K: Thanks.

SYS: End communication.

Kirchoff turned off the tablet and slumped against Valen's body. He looked exhausted. It was no wonder why though. Kirchoff was still incredibly weak after his ordeal and even typing a conversation was tiring.

_Are you okay?_

_Yes Valen, I'm fine. You can stop asking that,_ he said. _I'm just tired._

_And everything hurts,_ Valen added.

_That too._

_And you're not sure if you'll ever recover._

_Yes, that too._

_And you'll never be able to live your childhood dream of becoming a professional ballerina…_

_No!_ Kirchoff exclaimed. _You promised to never bring that up again!_

_Just trying to cheer you up._

_Yeah, you're doing a bang up job._

_Was that sarcasm I heard?_

_Shut up._

_I think it was!_

The door on their side of the room opened up again. A bowl and a bottle of water were pushed through the crack.

_Do you mind?_ he asked Valen.

Valen let out a small hiss in annoyance, but he brought the bowl and the bottle over to Kirchoff. _Are you sure you want to eat this, it looks like a bowl of ground up rocks._

_Yeach, sounds like oatmeal._

Valen sniffed the contents of the bowl. _If that's what you eat,_ _then I'm glad I'm not a human._

_Let me at it. It should be enough to blot out the taste of my morning breath._ Kirchoff grabbed the spoon sticking out of the bowl and gave it a yank. It didn't budge. He tried twisting it, but it sprang back to it's original position. The food at the Bernard Research Station was relatively good, except for the oatmeal. It was infamous for being impossible to scoop into a spoon, let alone eat. There was even a tradition where new marine recruits had to eat an entire bowl of the stuff as a sort of hazing.

_Having trouble there? _Valen asked, swishing his tail back and forth in an amused fashion.

_Um, can you help me?_ he asked. Valen stopped swishing his tail and burst out in his weird hissing laugh. He tried to stop, but whenever he looked over at Kirchoff struggling with his spoon it made him laugh even harder.

_I'm being serious here,_ Kirchoff said indignantly.

Valen pulled himself together long enough to yank the spoon out of the oatmeal with one swift jerk of his hand, but he fell into hysterics again when he saw Kirchoff trying to eat it. He had stabbed the stuff with his spoon and ripped out a chunk and was trying to chew it.

_It tastes like rocks._ He told Valen. That only made him laugh harder. He was literally rolling around on the floor trying to catch his breath. _Do you have to be so loud? That hurts my ears._

_Stop being so entertaining then,_ he could barely get the words across. Kirchoff could feel his amusement, which made him smile._ You look ridiculous when you're laughing._

_Says the human trying who can't get his spoon out of his oatmeal._

_At least I have an excuse. You just look silly._ He took another bite of the oatmeal and gagged. _I can't eat this crap, it tastes awful._

_Have you ever tried eating raw octopus?_

_No._

_You shouldn't. It's slimy and disgusting._

_Did they feed you raw octopus before?_

_Yes, and it was slimy and disgusting._

Kirchoff chuckled. _I'm going to sleep._

Valen crept up behind him and pulled him into a hug. _You know, for being an intelligent, ruthless killing machine, you sure are cuddly._ Valen purred in response and curled himself around his body protectively. Kirchoff pressed himself up against Valen's protruding ribs and sighed. It wasn't the most comfortable spot to be in, but it made him feel safe.

_Good night Valen._

_Good night Kirchoff._


	9. Chapter 9

Hello everybody. Before you dive into this chapter I must inform you that there will be some very mature themes present in this chapter, namely violence and rape. If you feel uncomfortable with any of these subjects, I recommend you skip Kirchoff's memory sequence at the end of the chapter.

* * *

"Time to wake up," Dr. Nigel said over the intercom. Her voice sounded cheerful, almost giddy.

"Uuuugh," Kirchoff mumbled. The cheerful tone of her voice made him feel even more crappy than he already was. _Let me sleep._

"Wake up sleepyheads," she said again, louder this time. "I've got a surprise for you."

Kirchoff's ears twinged with pain and he curled up trying to blot out the sound. He felt Valen curl up tighter around him. That made him smile a bit. It felt nice to have a familiar presence literally surrounding him after the events of the past few days.

"Get up you two," Dr. Nigel sounded less amused. "Or I'll turn the siren on."

Both Kirchoff and Valen half jumped up from their position on the floor. Kirchoff sat up while Valen laid back down on the floor and tried to go back to sleep.

"Ooooh," Kirchoff moaned. His head was throbbing, his skin felt raw and sore and his eyes stung from the lights. _Everything hurts._

_Surprised?_ Valen didn't sound like his usual witty self. His mental voice was slower and somehow raspy. Valen picked up on Kirchoff's observation. _What? Can't I have a morning voice?_

_No. Well yes,_ he floundered._ It's just I didn't expect it, that's all._

Valen chuckled but didn't respond.

"How are you doing this morning Kirchoff?" Dr. Nigel asked. "Can you speak?"

His ears pricked, but Dr. Nigel was considerate enough to keep her voice down. He opened his mouth, but all that came out was a series of quiet gargles. He looked around the floor nearby, but he couldn't see the black communication tablet anywhere. _Valen, where's my tablet?_

Valen shifted slightly and pulled the tablet out from under his chest and presented it to Kirchoff, holding it between two of his claws. He took it from him and noted the tiny scratch marks Valen's claws had left on it's surface.

SYS: Communication Opened.

K: I'm sore everywhere, I have a really bad headache and I'm in a really bad fucking mood.

N: You should be grateful that you can still sit up.

K: No thanks to you, filling me with chemicals and electricity and crap.

N: Kirchoff, I'm sorry for everything I've put you through. I was backed into a corner and I had to proceed with the experiment or Dr. Gavin would have shut down Cantharides. I promise you I won't do anything like that again.

_She is terrible isn't she?_ He asked.

_Yes, she is terrible,_ Valen said._ But there are others who are much worse than her. At least she feels remorseful for what she did to you. I can think of several other humans I have met who would love to harm you for having such an… intimate relationship with a Xenomorph._ He got up from his position on the floor and walked over to a corner of the room to clean himself.

K: Whatever you say doctor. What's the surprise you have for us?

N: I managed to secure new living quarters for you and Valen.

K: Tell me about our new living quarters. Is it something roomy and open, or is it just an even larger white room.

N: I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. I had to pull quite a few strings to get it, but I think you'll be impressed.

K: It'll take quite a bit to impress me at this point.

N: Then you won't be disappointed. You're going to be relocated in a few hours, so prepare yourself. I'll have breakfast sent down to your room. Do you still want oatmeal?

K: I'd rather eat a bowl of rocks. It has a better texture.

N: I'll send down some dry toast and water.

K: Thank you.

N: You're welcome. I'll let you know when you're going to be transferred.

SYS: Communication Closed.

* * *

Valen was in the middle polishing his claws when Kirchoff finished his conversation with the Dr. Nigel woman. Ever since his torturing, Valen always kept contact with Kirchoff's mind whenever he could. It also spared him the trouble of asking Kirchoff what the conversation was about, it was much easier to listen in.

_So, new living quarters, _he commented._ Sounds exciting._

_Exciting is the last thing I want right now,_ Kirchoff grumbled. He certainly wasn't at the top of his game today. In fact, he appeared to be rather disgruntled, not that he could blame him after all that had happened recently. He gently lowered himself down to lie on his back. _I just want some time to relax._

Valen was content to lie down next to Kirchoff and relax with him.

_Valen, what did you mean by the humans wanting to hurt me?_

_Other humans don't understand us like you do,_ he explained._ And as a result they fear you. Humans… no, living things in general, fear what they don't understand. There are a few exceptions, like Dr. Nigel, but I'd imagine other humans would take great pleasure in making you squirm._

_Is that why you want me to live with you?_

_It's one reason out of many,_ Valen said. It was then he realized that Kirchoff might not know the level affection he felt for him. It was obvious that Kirchoff trusted him, but he had no idea how Kirchoff felt towards him. Even with his ability to literally read minds, it was hard to identify specific emotions unless they were very strong and were being expressed when he was in contact with a persons mind. If Valen could look into his own mind, it would be hard for him to identify his affection towards Kirchoff unless he was thinking about Kirchoff and how strongly he felt towards him. It was a bit of a confusing concept and even Valen hadn't figured out all of it's intricacies yet.

The possibility of Kirchoff not reciprocating his feelings was something Valen needed time to think about, but now was not that time. He could sit down and work out his feelings later.

_Are you okay?_ Kirchoff shuffled closer and he backed away shyly.

_I'm the one who should be asking you that._

_Alright, you're just acting really... weird, _Kirchoff lowered himself back onto the floor.

_I'm not acting weird!_ he exclaimed indignantly.

_You keep telling yourself that,_ he chuckled. _Whenever you want to tell me why you're acting weird…_

_Which I'm not._

_...I'll be happy to listen,_ Kirchoff finished.

They sat together for a while, waiting for Dr. Nigel to contact them again, but after about half an hour of doing nothing but waiting, Kirchoff began to get bored. He yawned and tried to stretch, but his body gave a shriek of protest, which did not help his foul mood.

_Damn, I hurt all over,_ he moaned.

_I guess it doesn't feel so good when you're on the receiving end of the stick,_ Valen retorted.

He knew that Valen was probably just trying to make a joke, but something about his remark just rubbed him the wrong way. _Back off Valen, I'm not in the mood._

_What's with the attitude all of a sudden?_

_What's with the attitude? I'll tell you what's with the attitude. I'm sore as hell from being tortured not three days ago and you go and give me hell for it when I try and complain about it!_

_What do you want me to do about it?_ Valen sounded hurt by his sudden outburst._ It's not like I can just make the pain go away?_

_Well why don't you just kill me now! _He shouted, throwing as much annoyance behind his words as possible. _It'd make my life a hell of a lot easier!_

Out of nowhere Valen pounced on Kirchoff, pinned his arms down with his clawed hands and sat himself on his legs. He brought his face close to his until he could smell his breath. Despite the situation, he noticed that his breath didn't smell as bad as he thought it would. In fact it had a faintly sweet scent to it.

_Don't talk like that!_ Valen shouted in his head. He still had a nasty headache and Valen's words in his mind made his head throb harder.

_Calm down Valen,_ Kirchoff said as soothingly as he could. _I didn't mean it like that!_

_No! I won't calm down! _Valen screamed. Literally screamed. His inner mouth was extended so it was right above his and it was emitting a long, horrible, screeching wail. _I nearly lost you so many times over the past five days! Do you have any idea what it's like to almost lose the only person you care about?_

_As a matter of fact, yes. I know exactly what it feels like to lose someone you love,_ Kirchoff said in a deliberately calm voice. Valen stopped screaming and just stared at him. Kirchoff could feel that he was still angry and upset, but he was also curious. He was giving him an opportunity to explain. However, that was a part of his past that he felt was better left untouched, but he could see no other way that he could get Valen to get off of him. _Before I was selected to work here on the Bernard Research Station, I had no one I cared about in my life. My mother was dead, my father refused to speak to me and my two brothers were drafted into the Colonial Marines. I was swamped in debt and I couldn't hold down a job for more than a month. Being a Xenologist doesn't exactly provide great employment opportunities. I had even contemplated suicide multiple times, but I could never bring myself to do it. Then I met someone who made me feel special. Someone who made me feel that my life was worth living after all… and then I lost her._

Valen showed no signs of moving. Kirchoff guessed he wasn't satisfied with his simple explanation. He heaved a sigh and continued. _Valen... I've never told anyone this story before, so please try not to interrupt me until I'm finished._

He took a deep breath, then began to speak._ I was just rejected for a weaponry research position with the military or something along those lines. I can't remember much from those days since I was drunk most of the time. _

_That night I went to a bar in a rough part of town. A real dirty place too, not somewhere anybody decent should be hanging around. Right after I got there some kind of gang fight broke out in the street outside. I heard shooting and shouting outside, so I thought it might be a good time to leave and I tried to leave through the back alley. Unfortunately for me, several gang members decided to wait in the exact same alley. They attacked me and… and..._

Kirchoff stopped speaking. He had repressed that particular memory for over ten years beneath a veil of alcohol and denial. Speaking about it openly for the first time made the memories of that horrible night come flooding back to the forefront of his mind.

* * *

Kirchoff stumbled out of the bar and into the alleyway. It was dark, smelly, humid and all around unpleasant. There were doorways that led to neighboring establishments along the walls of the alley and the floor was an assortment of trash, empty bottles and other things Kirchoff couldn't identify. He started to pick his way along the alley, trying his best to avoid the filth on the floor. Before he made his way to the end of the alley, a hand stabbed out of a doorway to his left and seized him by the shoulder.

"And where do ya think yer goin'?" a snarling voice asked. The hand on his shoulder yanked and Kirchoff tumbled off balance and slammed into a wall. He could barely see in the dim light of the alley, but there was enough for him to make out the silhouettes of two men. One was looked very thickset and the other one was tall and very skinny.

"Look at this one," the tall skinny one said with a high squeaky voice. "Quite the looker ain't he?"

"Eh, seen better," the other man replied. Compared to the tall man, the thickset man's voice was deep and raspy. "Still, he ain't half bad."

"Well, we gonna break 'im in?" the squeaky man asked. He sounded eager about something.

"Excuse me," Kirchoff said in a quiet voice.

"Oi Barry, you hearin' this faggot?"

"Yeah, sounds like quite the little bitch, doesn't he," Barry replied. "Hey faggot, are you a bitch?"

"What?"

Barry grabbed Kirchoff by the hair and pulled him to his feet. His face was uncomfortably close to Barry's. He could smell his breath. "I asked if you were a bitch. What, are you deaf too?"

"No," Kirchoff said. He was wincing from the Barry pulling on his hair.

"Oh, really. Ya' sure look like a bitch, faggot," Barry sneered.

"I'm not a faggot either," Kirchoff said through gritted teeth. Barry's grip on his hair was rock solid and it hurt like hell.

"Not a faggot? You hearin' this Tim?" Barry asked the other man. "Real piece of work."

Barry turned his attention back to Kirchoff. "Don't try an' lie to me. I know that you snuck outta that ratty-ass gay bar. I saw you m'self."

Kirchoff went pale. He had always tried to keep that tidbit of information a secret, but he supposed there was no point in trying to hide it. "Alright, fine. I'm gay. You happy now?"

"I will be in a minute once I'm done with you." Barry had an unpleasant slime on his face that gave Kirchoff the creeps. A second set of arms, probably belonging to Tim, grabbed his arms and pinned them behind his back. Tim forced Kirchoff into a kneeling position on the filthy floor of the alley.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Kirchoff asked. He was starting to panic now.

"I think you're smart enough to figure that out ya little bitch," Tim said menacingly from behind him. Kirchoff looked up at Barry's silhouette outlined by the light coming from the nearby street. The shadow reached down and Kirchoff heard the sound of a fly unzipping.

"No! Please no!" Kirchoff begged. He squirmed and writhed in the iron grip Tim had him in. "Please, I'll do anything!"

"Well then I hope you're good at blowin'," Barry chuckled. "Open up bitch."

Kirchoff clamped his mouth tight shut.

"C'mon, don't be like that." Barry rasped. He raised a hand and smacked Kirchoff across the face. Kirchoff grunted in pain, but he kept his mouth shut. Barry smacked him again, and again, and again until he couldn't keep his jaw clenched. He let his jaw go limp and his mouth dangle semi-open.

"There, isn't that better?" Barry grabbed Kirchoff by the hair again and shoved his face against his groin. Kirchoff did his best to keep his face away from Barry's crotch, but he was still too dazed to struggle for long. Eventually, Kirchoff gave up and accepted the inevitable.

"There we go," Barry said with a sigh. He was still holding on to Kirchoff's hair and was using it to move his head back and forth. Kirchoff was in a daze. Everything had happened so quickly it didn't seem real. He didn't know how long he was there, down on his knees sucking Barry off. After what seemed like an eternity Barry let out a groan and finished. Kirchoff gagged and choked as he came.

"C'mon, swallow it," Barry sneered. Kirchoff shuddered and swallowed. "There we go. Now it's Tim's turn."

Tim let out a wheezing laugh that sounded like a deflating balloon. Barry and Tim switched positions without much struggling on Kirchoff's part. Tim grabbed Kirchoff's hair the same way that Barry did, but Kirchoff could feel his hands trembling in excitement. Tim unzipped his pants and Kirchoff didn't even bother to struggle this time. He just opened his mouth and waited for the inevitable. Tim didn't take nearly as long as Barry did to do his business and he finished almost as soon as he started.

"Alright Tim, I think our work is done 'ere," Barry said.

_Thank god,_ Kirchoff thought.

"Just one thing left," Barry said in a quiet voice. Without warning, he swung his leg back and kicked Kirchoff in the ribs. Hard. Kirchoff heard the crunch of several of his ribs breaking and he fell to the ground breathless.

"That," he rasped. "Is for being such a whiny little bitch. C'mon Tim, let get outta 'ere."

The sound of their footsteps faded back down the alley and into the street. Kirchoff didn't bother to move. Instead he lay in the damp and the filth of the alleyway in pain. Since he had lost any sense of the passing of time, it felt like mere seconds when he heard another set of footsteps in the alley emanating from the direction Barry and Tim had left. Maybe Tim had come back for more since he barely got any action.

The person in the alley spoke, and it wasn't Barry or Tim. It was a new voice. A feminine voice.

"Hey, are you alright?"


	10. Chapter 10

It's here, it's finally here! Chapter 10 is finally here! Sorry it too so log to write this, but it took a long time for me to get it the way I wanted. Anyways, I'm going

* * *

Valen's vision came back with a snap. The sudden change in scenery, both mental and visual made his head throb and it made him close his concealed eyes to try and dull the pain. When Kirchoff began recounting his story, it was as though he were Kirchoff, living through the experience for the first time. Just the implications of what had happened would boggle Kirchoff's mind.

_Kirchoff!_

He opened his eyes and saw Kirchoff who was curled in a ball on the floor, trembling and crying his eyes out. Concerned, Valen tried to touch Kirchoff's mind but the sheer amount of grief and sadness pouring from his mind was like a torrential waterfall, crashing against his own consciousness so hard that he was forced to withdraw.

Valen had no idea what to do. He had never seen Kirchoff like this before. All he could think to do was stand where he was and wait for him to calm down. Minutes passed, but he didn't calm down. In fact he seemed to get more and more hysterical as time went on. Soon he was wailing as well as crying and heaving for breath between sobs and his hysterics began to worry Valen. If he didn't calm down soon he might hurt himself. He approached Kirchoff, laid down on his side next to him, wrapped himself around him and nuzzled his head into his hair. He wasn't sure if it would help, but Kirchoff seemed to register Valen's presence and he cuddled up to his bony chest. Ordinarily he would be purring like a housecat if Kirchoff was cuddling with him like this, but he was too worried to do anything other than wait and watch.

Gradually, Kirchoff's sobs turned into gentle whimpers and his body wracking trembles turned into the occasional twitch. Valen extended his mind out to Kirchoff's and was relieved to find that he was stable enough to talk.

_Kirchoff? Are you alright?_ As soon as he spoke he regretted asking. He obviously was not alright.

"No… I'm not…" he mumbled. His voice was so hoarse and quiet that Valen could barely make it out. "I'm sorry... I've repressed that memory for so long… I couldn't control myself… I'm sorry..."

_No, I'm sorry,_ Valen reassured him. _I shouldn't have snapped at you. If I had known…_

"But you didn't know," he cut in. "And I owed you an explanation because you were angry... but having to recall that…" Tears welled in the corners of his eyes again and he paused to collect himself again.

_Kirchoff…_ Valen lowered his head in shame._ I really am sorry. I overreacted because I was worried. You're the only person I care about, and if I lost you..._

"I understand," he replied, reaching out and rubbing the top of Valen's head, making him purr slightly at the touch. "It's just... that I really didn't want to relive that..."

_I understand. _

Valen curled up tighter around Kirchoff and for a long time, neither of them spoke. Eventually, Kirchoff broke the silence, "So… I suppose I should finish my story."

_No!_ Valen exclaimed. Kirchoff gave him a look. _I mean, you don't have to if you don't want to._

"I want to," he said. "The rest of the story isn't nearly so bad. And besides, you should probably know how I ended up here anyways."

That caught his attention. Kirchoff had never been willing to open up about his past before, even with his incessant pestering.

"I suppose I should start from where I left off," Kirchoff began.

_That would be an appropriate place to start,_ Valen scoffed, a hint of his previous sarcasm slipping past the comforting facade he was putting on for him, but all it made Kirchoff do was chuckle.

"After my assault in the alley, I thought I was a goner. I was pretty sure Barry did some pretty serious damage to my ribs and I thought I might have a punctured lung. Lucky for me, a woman was just walking past the alley and called an ambulance." An image replaced his vision for a split second.

_A woman's silhouette in the light of the nearby street. _Valen shook his head and tried to focus on listening to Kirchoff speak.

"I was taken to the hospital, and not a moment too soon."

This time, several images flashed across his vision in quick succession. _The inside of an ambulance with tubes and monitors everywhere. The sensation of pain. A glimpse of long gray hair._

"When I got there, the doctors found out I had 3 broken ribs and really bad internal bleeding. f I had gotten there an hour later, I would probably have died. I can't remember how they fixed me up or how long it took, but it was 3 days before all the drugs wore off."

__A white room lined with rows of beds. Some were covered by drab green curtains, but most were empty. A window directly to his left cast bright beams of light on his face.__

"It was three days before I was stable enough for visitors. That's when I met Silvia. I can't remember too much about her first visit. I was still pretty out of it thanks to all the drugs they had me on, but I remember..."

_A white room… his bed, with green curtains pulled off to one side._ _A woman's face, everything but the very edges of her sharp cheekbones masked by the shadows cast by the sun behind her head. Random snippets of conversation. The soft tone of the woman's voice. She was saying something, but he couldn't catch the words. Whatever she was saying, it made him feel more at ease and he slipped back into sleep…_

Valen shook his head. All these images and sensations were giving him a headache. It didn't help that he had no idea why this was happening all of a sudden. He tried to put it out of his mind and just focus on Kirchoff's words, but it was getting pretty hard.

"The next time she visited I was much more coherent. It was then that I learned what she did for me. Not only did she call me an ambulance, she also offered to pay for all my medical bills and take care of me personally after I was discharged. Of course I was wary of her offer, but I wasn't in much of a position to argue…"

"_Hello Steven." The woman said in a soft, high voice. She sat herself down on the small stool next to his bed as she always did._

_He sat up a bit, but his ribs prevented him from getting up beyond a slouch."Hi Silvia."_

"_How are you feeling?" she asked._

"_Better," he said half truthfully. He did feel better, but better was a relative term. He still felt like a sack of shit that had been thrown out of a three story window._

"_Well that's good to hear," She looked skeptical, but she held her tongue. "So, I hear that they're going to turn you loose soon."_

"_Not for about another week," Kirchoff slumped back down into the thin hospital blanket. "Maybe more, depending how well my ribs heal."_

"_Don't worry about it too much dear. You just need lots of rest." She ruffled his hair. under ordinary circumstances he wouldn't have tolerated anyone treating him like a sick little boy, but to have Silvia do it… it was comforting._

"After I was out of the hospital, she offered to let me stay with her. I considered turning her offer down, but the only other person I had to turn to was my dad, and there was no way I was going back to…"

_You fucking faggot! I didn't raise you to be a puny little cocksucker! Get out of my house!_

"My father. So I took her up on her offer. She took me under her wing…"

_An enormous plate piled high with food. A small pair of hands on his shoulders. A warm bed with blankets tucked up high around his shoulders._

"...and treated me like her own son. Her real son had died on a tour of duty 6 years earlier out on some planet, and from what I gathered they had left on pretty bad terms. Since his death she had spent most of that time as a shut in…"

_Empty rooms filled with furniture, all immaculate and clean. A dusty picture of a man in military outfit. His face was blank and emotionless, but he certainly was handsome..._

"I lived with her for about a year and a half. She wasn't particularly old, but she was lonely. I didn't really have anywhere else to go, so I stayed with her."

"_Steven, it's time for dinner!" Silvia's voice echoed from downstairs. She was most likely in the kitchen, cooking up what smelled like pasta. His stomach growled at the scent. He pushed his chair back from his desk, which was covered with a mix of papers, empty plates and various pieces of garbage along with the small personal computer that sat in the middle of the mess._

"_I'll be down in a minute Silvia," he shouted back. He pulled on a clean shirt from his closet and replaced the smelly one he had on for the clean one. He had been up all last night and today applying for jobs and he smelled like hell. He smoothed his hair in front of the mirror hanging next to the desk and did his best to make himself look less like a slob. Once he was satisfied with his appearance he opened his door and walked downstairs to the little kitchen and dining room. _

"_You look terrible," Silvia fussed. "Were you up all night again?"_

"_Yeah," he admitted. "It's not easy to find a job around here."_

"_Well don't wear yourself out," she said sternly. "You need your sleep you know."_

"_I know." A plate of food was placed in front of him. It was piled high with spaghetti and meatballs, one of his favorite foods. "Thanks for the food."_

"_It was nothing Steven," she said and ruffled his hair. He looked up at her face and saw her loving smile._

"It was like having a mother, a real mother to take care of me. My real family was always… distant during my childhood. My mother died when I was young, my father was always busy with work of one kind or another and my siblings were much older than I was. I was never good at making friends as a child either, so most of my life was spent alone. Silvia was the first person to genuinely care for me. Although I think it was more for her sake than mine. I guess when she found me, she saw me as an opportunity to reconcile herself with the way she treated her son before she died. Whatever the reason, I know that she genuinely cared for me."

_A hand on his shoulder. Silvia smiling at him from her large armchair as he read aloud to her from an old, leather bound book. The look in her eyes as he walked in the door after a long day of work._

"But one night, about a year and a half of living with her, I came home after going out drinking with a few of my friends. The lights were on, but the house was…"

_Quiet… The house was so quiet. No sound coming from the kitchen, the living room or the upstairs bedroom where Silvia slept. She was normally up until late when he went out, usually cleaning and waiting for him to return. He stumbled down the hallway towards the living room, thinking that maybe she fell asleep in the big armchair she always liked to nap in. _

_He opened the door to the small living space and cast his gaze around the room. It took a bit longer for him to investigate his surroundings, but after a few seconds he realized that Silvia wasn't in her armchair, or anywhere else in the room for that matter._

_Then a sound from the kitchen, the sound of running tap water hit his ears. He turned around and stumbled his way back down the hall to the kitchen. The door was ajar, swinging ever so slightly. A sense of dread washed over him._

"_Silvia?" he called out. "Are you in there?"_

_No answer. He pushed his way through the door, and right away, he saw her. Lying face down on the floor, hair sprawled over her head. It concealed her features, but it wasn't enough to cover the red pool of blood seeping around her head…_

"I was so overwhelmed with grief that after I found her body, I went out and drank myself into a stupor. I was utterly miserable. The one person in my life who cared about me, the one person who made my life worth living, was gone. Even though I was stone cold drunk, I remember that night so well…"

_He was walking along the sidewalk crowded with people._ _He bumped into several of the pedestrians and they cast him angry looks, but he didn't care enough to acknowledge them…_

_The wind was strong up here. It whistled and screamed into his ears, blocking out the sounds of the city far, far below him. It battered his clothes, making them flap wildly in the breeze, adding to the cacophony of sound already pounding against his ear drums._

_He looked down on the city, the bright lights of all the cars, streetlights and buildings casting a glow up at his face. The smaller lights of the far off residences and the factories extended far out into the distance and beyond the horizon. It was a pleasant sight. He was glad to have seen it before it all came crashing to an end._

"...I can't remember exactly how I got to the rooftop, but I guess it seemed the best way to go. I always loved the lights of the city..."

"_W-w-well... s'time," he told himself. He stepped up onto the lip of the roof and peered down over the edge, his legs wobbling dangerously. He could see the cars whizzing by on the well worn roads, stopping only when the traffic lights changed color. The people were also there, walking by on the sidewalks, talking on their phones, hailing cabs, eating at the fancy restaurants that lined the streets, and conversing with one another._

"_Hope I don't hit any," He chuckled. It was a morbid thought, but why should it matter to him? He wouldn't be around for long anyways._

"...And the next thing I knew I was on the ledge of the roof. I was all prepared to..."

He hesitated for a moment, his resolve wavering... Then he raised his leg to take the last step forwards…

_He took one last deep breath..._

This was too much for him to handle. He unceremoniously drew out of Kirchoff's mind and backed away.

* * *

Valen had taken a step back from him and was shaking his head and growling like a rabid dog.

"Woah, Valen! Take it easy, what's going on?" Kirchoff asked. He stook a step towards Valen, but he hesitated to go further.

_Kirchoff, I..._

"You what?" He asked, his concern evident in his voice. "What's wrong?"

_I... I keep seeing your memories,_ Valen said quickly.

_Seeing his memories? What the hell is he talking about, _he thought. "What are you talking about?"

_Whenever you're thinking about a memory, I see images and feel sensations. It's like... like I was you, in your memory._

Kirchoff opened his mouth to speak, but only a faint squeak escaped. He had grown used to Valen's ability to read his thoughts and emotions, but the idea that Valen could actually see and experience his _memories_ was something else.

"Valen, are you sure that…" Before he could finish his question, he was but off the the sound of the sound of someone fumbling with a microphone. "We're gonna have a long talk about this later."

The sound of someone fumbling with the microphone echoed from the speakers until a deep, gruff started talking over the intercom, "Dr. Kirchoff, please step away from the Xenomorph so that we may transport you to your new living quarters."

In response, Kirchoff wrapped his arms tightly around Valen's neck. He looked up into a camera defiantly, as if daring the man at the intercom to do something.

"Dr. Kirchoff, please step away from the Xenomorph subject so that we may transport you to your new living quarters," the voice said again. All Kirchoff did was hold onto Valen tighter. Although it was faint, he could feel him purring.

"Just transport them together Major," Dr. Nigel said. Her voice was faint, but it was still loud enough to heard over the intercom.

"But it's against protocol! If we are to transport a Xenomorph we must…"

"Yes, Major, I'm well aware of the protocol," she exclaimed. "I'm just trying to save you hours of frustration. Trying to seperate them will be impossible unless you want half a squad of marines to die trying, and I'm pretty sure you want to avoid that."

"...Yes Doctor."

"Very well," Her voice got much louder the next time she spoke. "Kirchoff... Valen… Say goodbye to your cell, it's moving day."

A door slid open in the side of the wall.

"Your ride awaits," Dr. Nigel said. "Just bang on the side of the container when you're ready to go. And be warned, it can get a bit noisy in there, what with the engines on the transport carts."

With Kirchoff's arms still around Valen's neck, they walked over to the door of the dim box and stepped chamber was cramped, only about feet high, 6 feet wide, and 10 deep, lit only by a flashlight that had been turned on and tossed inside. The beam of light was too bright for Kirchoff, who shielded his eyes with one arm while keeping the other around Valen's neck.

_Can you get that for me?_ He thought wearily, not bothering to use his vocal cords. His throat was raw from sobbing and talking seemed rather pointless when he knew that they could just communicate in their heads.

Valen reluctantly stepped out of Kirchoff's embrace and tried his best to turn off the flashlight. It took quite a bit of fumbling, but eventually he clicked the light off with one of his claws. Once that was over with, he flopped down on his side and extended his arms towards Kirchoff. He sat down next to Valen, who wrapped his arms around his waist and curled up around him. He let out a long sigh and leaned back against Valen's bony ribs and felt him purr. During all their years together he never would have guessed that cynical, snarky, arrogant Valen was so cuddly. Still, he had gotten used to Valen snuggling him during their time in the cell and he wasn't going to complain about it now.

_Want to get going?_ he asked him.

Valen didn't reply. He just banged his tail against the side of the container to signal that they were ready to depart. For several minutes there were the faint sounds of people running around, dragging things, opening doors, preparing the little transport cart to take them to their new home. The sudden noise of the engine starting made the container vibrate. Kirchoff and Valen flinched at the sound it made, but it wasn't unbearably loud. The driver revved the engine and the transport cell rolled slowly forwards.

* * *

I hope you enjoyed! If you have any comments or questions, feel free to leave a review or PM me!


	11. Chapter 11 & MAJOR UPDATE

Ah, a new chapter. And it didn't take me 5 months to write this one.

As you may or may not know, Unusual Testing was originally supposed to be a 5 chapter smut fic, but so many people liked it that I decided to make it a full fledged story.

Therefore, I've gone back and edited or completely redone most of the previous chapters since they weren't as good as I wanted them to be. I've expanded a lot of the ideas in the earlier chapters, added new content, removed some pointless scenes/characters, improved character development, expanded on the plot, and fixed a lot of potholes. If you haven't done so already, GO BACK AND REREAD THE STORY BEFORE CONTINUING. I promise it won't disappoint, and who doesn't want more dialogue between everyone's favorite gay odd couple :P

That said, I hope you enjoy the new chapter and the new(?) old ones!

* * *

The cart ride wasn't pleasant to say the least. The transport car was unbearably loud and every bump and jolt of the cart, while not particularly painful, was incredibly annoying. Kirchoff still leaned against his chest. Valen purred and curled up a little tighter, content with the fact that they were on their way to a better place to live.

_So,_ Kirchoff said. He might have been actually speaking, but the noise of the cart was so loud that even if he was he doubted he could have heard him. _Do you think it's possible for me to finish my story without being interrupted. _

_I hope so,_ he replied. _I'm getting sick of waiting to hear the end of it._

_You're not the only one. So where was I… ah, right. Once I reached the rooftop, I was all but determined to kill myself. I wasn't in my right mind, because of my grief and the enormous amount of alcohol I drank. _

Another image. _He was standing on the edge of the roof, all but prepared to jump. He took a step forwards and…_

_Wait!_ Valen shouted. _Stop!_

_Why, what's wrong?_ He asked, concern lacing his voice._ I've barely started._

_I'm seeing your memories again._

_Oh…_ Kirchoff looked at him inquisitively._ Valen, can you tell me in more about what you're seeing._

_I'm not just seeing things, It's as though I'm experiencing everything like I was you. All your emotions and all the sensations you felt… I could feel them like I was you… Most of them are just little snippets, but some of them last for a lot longer._

_Hmmm… were all of your senses the same as normal?_ He questioned.

_No,_ Valen answered._ Whenever I was experiencing one of your memories, my… your vision was much more vivid than normal and the rest of my, gah… your senses were dulled._

_I see… has this happened before?_

_No you imbecile! _Valen snapped, but he caught himself before he went further. Not being sassy was tough. _The first time I experienced your memories was when you were talking about the incident you had in the alley. That was also the most vivid one… _

_Maybe whatever this is is just a more advanced form of your telepathy thing,_ Kirchoff suggested._ Maybe if you're in my head when I'm feeling strong emotions, you can experience my memories or something._

_Maybe… Can you just tell me your story when I'm not taking up space in your head?_

_Okay. For now I'll just say that I lucked out and didn't end up jumping to my untimely demise. Also know that you're still welcome in here,_ He tapped his temple. _Any time you want. Although I hope you'll show a bit of restraint from now on. _

In response, Valen curled up even tighter around him. He was so warm and soft, he could spend the rest of his life just cuddling him. His scent was also very pleasing. Most humans smelled rank and sour because of all the products that they washed themselves with, but Kirchoff had a more pleasant, masculine scent to him. A purr made it's way out of his mouth and he nuzzled his head into Kirchoff's hair.

_What's with you all of a sudden?_ Kirchoff asked him. _You're like some kind of cuddle monster!_

_I like cuddling._

_I can see that. Any reasons why?_

_I've never had any physical contact with anyone before. I don't know what it is, but I just love the feeling of you touching me. I love being close to you and wrap myself around you and I love the feel of your skin. It's so warm and smooth. And your scent is amazing. It's so…_ He stopped, realizing what he was saying. _Er… I mean…_

_Don't worry,_ Kirchoff responded._ I like cuddling with you too. It makes me feel safer._

That made him purr so loud that the vibrations of the cart were temporarily overpowered by his humming.

_Someone is certainly pleased._

_Can you tell?_ He wriggled and clung to Kirchoff even tighter.

_Well, what matters now is that we're together and we're hopefully being moved to a better home._

_Speaking of which, do you have any idea where we're being moved?_

_Hmmm, _Kirchoff went silent for a while. He could sense him thinking hard, going over any places that they might be moved to. This time, he didn't have any kind of images or sensations go through his head. Maybe Kirchoff was right. Perhaps he could only experience his memories if he was feeling some kind of strong emotion. But if that was the case, why hadn't it happened before?

Kirchoff's voice interrupted his train of thought. _I have several ideas…_

_Are you planning on sharing those ideas? _Valen asked._ Perhaps with a certain someone who is curled up around you._

Kirchoff chuckled and shook his head. _The first thing that pops to my mind is another research lab, but I doubt Dr. Nigel would go back on her word._

_How do you know that?_ He still didn't trust the woman Dr. Nigel. Maybe if she hadn't ordered Kirchoff to be brutally tortured, then he might have been able get along with her, but that was out of the question now._ She was the one who ordered you to be tortured._

_I'm still pissed at her for letting Julianne torture me, but I did work with her for a year and a half. I believe her when she said that she didn't mean for things to get out of hand. _

He snorted. _As far as I'm concerned, you're the only person that I trust._

_I'm flattered, _Even though he was inside his head, Valen couldn't tell if that remark was sarcastic or not. _Another place we might be going to is one of the indoor farms, but I doubt that. Knowing you, you'd probably eat all of the cattle._

_I would not! _Kirchoff gave him a look._ Okay, maybe not all at once._

_Besides that, the only other place I can think of is the dangerous extraterrestrial lifeform enclosures._ He broke off. Fear radiated off of Kirchoff so strongly that it made him feel uncomfortable. If there was something that could scare Kirchoff that much after all he had been through..._ If we get locked up in there I doubt we'd survive a week._

_Why?_ His pride stung. He was a Xenomorph, one of the most dangerous creatures known to humans. Whatever kind of dangerous creatures they had aboard this station were no match for him._ I'm a dangerous extraterrestrial._

_Well you aren't the _most_ dangerous thing on board this station. Most of what I've heard are rumors and speculations, but even if a fraction of them are true, then you do not want to go there._

_What could be so bad about it?_

_I heard that the last time a Xenomorph was brought down there, it was to see how well a it could defend itself against the local wildlife. They spent weeks cleaning the acid off the walls._

That made his blood run cold. Not to honk his own horn, but he thought pretty highly of himself. If there were creatures around that could turn him into a green splatter on the wall, then he didn't want anything to do with them. _That does seem pretty bad._

_Thank you captain obvious._

_Quit doing my job! Leave some sarcastic comebacks for me!_

_You're not doing a very good job right now,_ Kirchoff jabbed._ You'd better be careful, I think you're losing your touch._

_I'm just a little rusty. It's hard to make sarcastic comments when you're bawling your eyes out._

_I only cried once or twice, and I had an excuse!_

_If you can call incapacitating torture an excuse,_ Valen scoffed.

_Yes, I'm pretty sure that counts as an excuse._

_...You win this time._

Kirchoff laughed and ran his hand over his head. He petted the length of his head and he pressed back into it, trying to get the most out of the physical contact between his head and Kirchoff's soft, warm hand. This went on for the remainder of their trip until the transport cart came to a rough stop, rocking the container gently. Then the sounds of clanking and people moving outside filtered through the walls of the chamber. A series of rhythmic clanks sounded, accompanied by a loud whirr. It went on for about a minute, then the door slowly, silently opened.

* * *

Kirchoff winced and shielded his eyes from the blinding light outside.

_Valen, can you help me up?_ He asked. Valen stuck his hands under his arms and hauled him to his feet. Together, they walked out of the transport cart and the light coming from outside burned his retinas. He winced and covered his eyes with his hand.

_Valen, where are we?_

No response.

_Valen, what is it? Where the hell are we?_

_I… This place…_ Kirchoff felt a rush of air as Valen ran past him. _Our new home is amazing!_

That peaked his attention. Very slowly, he uncovered his eyes and let them adjust to the light. When his eyes no longer hurt, he squinted his eyes and the scene in front of him took his breath away. Spread out before him was a massive forest of pine trees that stretched as far as the eye could see. It wasn't outdoors, he could still clearly see the concrete walls that had been painted a dull baby blue, but the room was so incredible huge that it may as well have been outside. The place was even lit like the outdoors, a large cluster of lights in the shape of the sun clustered over his head, casting a bright, white white glow down on the trees. Somewhere in the forest, a creek burbled. He took a deep breath and smelled the fresh scent of the needles and woods.

_Have you ever seen anything like it? It's incredible!_ Valen ran in a circle, flopped down and started writhing in the grass. This giant indoor forest was their new home? Dr. Nigel said that she had to pull some strings, but this was ridiculous. The entire forest must have covered at least several square kilometers. Kirchoff knew that the Bernard Research Facility a massive place, but now that he had seen this, it was probably more comparable in size to an entire space station than a typical facility. And if this entire forest was contained deep underground, what the hell else was down here?

"Enjoying the view Kirchoff?" A familiar feminine voice boomed out over the indoor pine forest.. Dr. Nigel must have been watching him standing around while Valen was running around doing who knew what. "I take it this exceeds your expectations?"

Kirchoff nodded. "Any expectations I had have been blown out of the water," He rasped. He wondered if she could hear him, but if he knew her she had planned this down to the last detail.

"This forest was part of an incredibly old experiment to see if Terran vegetation could grow in the local soil. Fortunately for you, the composition of the soil is very similar to that of Earth. And since I know what you're going to ask, this place was scheduled for decommissioning in several months, but I pulled a few strings and cashed in on a ton of favours and now this place is under my control. I passed it of as a part of a new experiment I was conducting on you."

That made him a tad uneasy, "So… Are you conducting a new experiment on us?"

"I will have to conduct some tests in the future if you want to stay here. I did say that I was using this place to conduct an experiment after all, but given your current state, I don't think anyone will raise their eyebrows if I give you some time to recover."

"How long?"

"I'm not sure. I'll have to get you to be inspected by a physician before I can pass judgement on that."

"I'm still not so sure Valen would like that. I'm the only person he trusts, and he's the only person he trusts to keep me safe. And I assume that sending a doctor in here to inspect me while Valen breathes over their shoulder isn't an option."

"No, I'm not sending anyone in there, but if you want to stay here you have to get yourself checked out. I don't know what kind of damage was done to your body and it's been over half a week since the incident. If you don't get checked out now, there may be further complications down the road that we can prevent now."

"...Alright, but I'll have to talk it over with Valen first."

"Well aren't you two a cute couple. You have to talk things over with your little alien lovebird?"

Heat rushed to Kirchoff's cheeks and he felt like was going to die of embarrassment.

Dr. Nigel's laughter rang out over the intercom and echoed throughout the forest. "I was just pulling your leg Kirchoff! Oh my god, the look on your face was priceless."

He grumbled some swears under his breath and kicked at a patch of grass at his feet.

"I'll leave you alone for now. I'll check on you in a few hours, I still have a ton of paperwork to sort through."

"Don't you always have paperwork to do?"

"...I see Valen has worn off on you," The sound of fumbling with the microphone and then nothing.

_Worn off on me_, He thought to himself. _She must know Valen better than I thought._

He turned his attention back to Valen, who had climbed the trunk of a nearby tree and was perched up at the top like a giant bird. He was using his tail to grasp onto the trunk of the tree.

_There's so much space! And it smells amazing, so fresh and clean. I've never felt so free!_ He pounced from his branch down onto a lower one on a nearby tree. Then he started leaping his way from tree to tree like a giant cat, barely touching one pine before jumping to the next.

In that moment, watching Valen jumping from tree to tree, Kirchoff felt something change. Something deep down shifted while he watched Valen leap through the pines, totally fixated on his lithe, bounding form. Seeing Valen outside of a white walled cell was like seeing a whole nother side of him, so different from the cynical asshole he had met his first day on the job. His cheeks flushed, and he didn't know why he was blushing and he felt confused.

Before he could mull over what that was all about, Valen pounced out of the trees and landed directly in front of him. He was squirming and wagging his tail in excitement.

_Isn't this place amazing?_

_It sure is better than a lab cell,_ He remarked. _I can't believe Dr. Nigel managed to get her hands on this place for us._

_I must admit she did do a good job. I think I don't hate her as much now._

_Well that's great to hear, because she wants to get a doctor to look at me._

_I know, and I agree._

_What?_ That was unexpected. He was expecting a big argument. _You agree with her?_

_I don't like it,_ He said._ I don't want you out of my sight for any longer than five seconds, but she did make a good point. You may have some internal damage that could lead to future complications, and the last thing I want is to have you die from some affliction you could have prevented._

_You know, when you're not being sassy, you're actually pretty smart._

_Shut up you incompetent idiot and go get a checkup._

* * *

And now to answer some questions:

Guest: _Will there be lemons?_ Yes, but I plan to upload my more graphic works to a different website.

Kaishi: _When will you making more stories? Also will you expand into other games and movies etc etc? Also well you be doing crossovers and be doing a lot more aliens/predator fics?_

I do have several more ideas for stories, both in this universe and other fandoms, but I want to finish Unusual Testing before starting work on any others. As for crossovers, I do have one planned out for two of my favorite fandoms, but again I'm waiting until I'm finished this story to start on it.

As always, please review or shoot me a PM if you have any comments or suggestions. I really hope you enjoyed this new chapter and the updated old ones :)

**NOTE:** I will now be taking requests for short stories/one offs. If you have any requests, please contact my via private messaging.


	12. Chapter 12

You know what's a real bitch? Life. It's always getting in the way of shit like writing this goddamn story! But after almost a year of waiting, I present to you Chapter 12 of Unusual Testing!

Speaking of Unusual Testing, I don't feel that the title for the story fits anymore. I came up with the title as more of a working title at 2am when I first wrote the story with the intention of making Unusual Testing a 5 chapter smut fic, but as it evolved I never really feel like it fit. However I've been completely stumped by coming up with a new title. So I'm asking all of my readers, old and new, young and old, **to send me your ideas for a new name for Unusual Testing!** I want to hear your opinions, reasons and suggestions for what you think the new of this story should be!

That being said, HAPPY READING! :D

* * *

Grey concrete walls, a single light bulb dangling from a line on the ceiling, bottles of cleaning fluids pushed into the corners of the rooms. It certainly didn't look like your traditional doctors office. In fact, it was just a decrepit storage room that had been converted into a temporary doctor's office, but it had the advantage of being a five minute walk away from the massive indoor forest that was his new home.

"So let me make sure I've got everything down right." He pulled a clipboard and pen from a nearby shelf. "You don't have any unexplained muscular aches or pains anywhere?"

"None at all."

"No headaches of any description?"

"No, not really."

"Not really?" The doctor raised his eyebrow.

"The only time I get headaches is when I'm looking at really bright lights or when I hear loud noises," Kirchoff elaborated. The physician who was examining him was Dr. Nigel's own personal doctor. Kirchoff found it hard to believe that she even _had_ her own personal doctor. It must have been a part of her benefits, being the head of the research division and all. Even so, the doctor was thorough if nothing else. He had been in the makeshift examination room, which had probably been a storage room, for over two hours while the doctor inspected him from top to bottom, inside and out.

"Well I have good news Steven," the doctor said cheerfully. It was weird being called by his first name. He had gotten so used to being called by his surname by everyone. "The good new is that you don't appear to have any kind of permanent muscular or organ damage."

"Okay…" Kirchoff was skeptical. "And what's the bad news?"

"I didn't say there was any."

"Yeah, but I know there is bad new. There's always bad news."

"Well, you're right. Unfortunately, I can't determine the exact nature of the damage to your nervous system. I need equipment that I don't have access to to analyze in further detail. However, I have faith that you'll avoid doing anything stupid that might hurt yourself."

"I don't know doc," Kirchoff chuckled. "That's a lot of trust you're putting on a guy who sleeps with a Xenomorph."

The doctor glared at him, clearly not amused. "In the mean time, I'm recommending that you're given a month's rest before you participate in Dr. Nigel's experiments. I don't want to see you injured further."

"I'll call the guards." Under Dr. Nigel's instruction, he wasn't allowed to leave the indoor forest unless he was accompanied by an entire squadron of marines. Probably to make sure he didn't run away. _Not that I could leave,_ he thought, _what with Valen waiting for me._

His bodyguards led him through the winding corridors of the facility back to a door with "Entrance" scrawled in messy handwriting on a sheet of paper in black marker. One of the guards handed him a large pack that looked exactly like a stereotypical hiker's backpack. Upon inspection, it appeared that it contained all of his personal belongings along with a reasonable supply of food, water and bedding. _How thoughtful of them_.

He stepped inside the small room and he didn't even have the chance to turn around before the door slammed shut. A loud series of clicks and whirrs followed and a door on the other side of the room opened. He stepped out back into the forest and was almost immediately bowled off his feet by a tackle from Valen. After his heart stopped pounding, he hugged the giant murderous alien around the waist. Valen purred and nuzzled his forehead in return.

"You miss me much? I was only gone for an hour." Kirchoff asked. His throat was still fairly sore and dry, but the doctor was kind enough to give him enough throat lozenges to last him for a few weeks, which made talking possible.

_Yes, _Valen said bluntly. _What did the doctor say?_

"I should be fine as long as you don't keep scaring me half to death. No permanent damage, but I should be careful for the next little while... Do you mind getting off of me?"

_I don't want to. I think I'll stay here for a while._

"Get off me!"

_No._

"Get off me or I'll…"

_Or you'll what? Bitch at me?_

"No! I'll... Uh…"

Valen laughed his raspy laugh and removed himself from Kirchoff. He brushed the grass off his new sweatpants and noticed the prominent green stains in the shape of his ass that now adorned them. Huffing in exasperation, Kirchoff gathered his scattered belongings and walked back to the forest, Valen prancing around him.

Once they reached the treeline, Valen leaped up into the foliage and gracefully landed on a branch 15 feet over his head.

"How's the view from up there?" He called.

_No idea, I'm still rather blind if you'll recall, _Valen snarked, _but the smell of the trees and the air is indescribable._

They both inhaled deeply, taking in the pleasant scent of the towering pine trees around them.

"It sure beats the smell in the containment cells."

_That's an understatement if ever I've heard one._

Neither of them said anything, mentally or verbally for a long time. Both of them just stood where they were, taking in the whole scene. Just over a week ago, they were stuck together in a cramped, whitewashed containment cell with no hope of escape from a life of inhumane experimentation. Now they had their own private forest to do whatever they wanted in, and a whole month to do it before they would be bothered to do anything. A much fucking better agreement in other words.

Kirchoff was the one to finally break the silence. "So did you find anywhere to set up camp?" He asked Valen hopefully. Last night they ended up sleeping on top of the hill near the wall because Kirchoff had no intention of walking the half kilometer down to the pine forest and had just slept curled up on the ground. He kind of regretted it now though, his back was killing him.

_There are several places I found that would be suitable, but I don't think you'd like them very much. _Valen responded.

"And why is that?"

_Because they're sixty feet in the air. I assume you don't intend to sleep on a branch for the rest of your life._

A shudder ran down his spine. "Yeah, no. I'll sleep on the ground if it's all the same to you, it's much safer."

_I thought as much, _Valen chuckled. He descended to the ground, leaping from branch to branch until he landed at Kirchoff's feet. _There is one spot I think you'll like. It's not that far away. _

Valen turned on his heels, although quite how he did so was a mystery of physics and biology, and silently strode off into the forest. Kirchoff shouldered his pack and followed.

* * *

_I fucking love this forest_, Valen thought to himself. It was truly amazing here in the massive indoor enclosure. For a start there was so much more room. Far more than he had ever had in his life. If he wanted to run in a straight line, he could! If he wanted to chase his own tail, he could! If he wanted to leap from branch to branch until he was flying through the foliage, he could! Not only that, but he absolutely loved loved the smell that the large conifers gave off. It was so fresh and clean that it made him want to roll around on a pile of pine needles until it would be impossible to distinguish him from a pine scented air freshener.

But he wasn't leaping through the tree tops or transforming himself into a pine scented Xenomorph right now, he was escorting Kirchoff to their new home that he had chosen. It hadn't taken long to find it, only several minutes of searching. He would have tried to find more potential places to 'set up camp' as Kirchoff put it, but he got lazy. If Kirchoff didn't like it, they could always find another spot.

He glanced over his shoulder and was greatly amused to find Kirchoff panting and grunting under the massive pack slung over his shoulders. His face was red and he was almost bent double from the weight of it.

_Having fun back there?_ He asked, trying his best to keep his amusement out of his thoughts.

"What... does it look like?" Kirchoff shot back. Even his mental voice sounded out of breath.

Oh, I just thought you might want some help. He strained, desperately trying not to laugh.

The look on Kirchoff's face was a lovely mix of irritation and exhaustion, his eyes bulging and cheeks flushed. Valen broke down and started laughing. When he tried to calm down, he looked back over at Kirchoff's face and fell into a new fit of giggles. Kirchoff threw down his pack and sat down on it, panting and gasping, which made Valen break into a new fit of raspy laughter.

When at long last Valen pulled together long enough to compose himself himself he addressed Kirchoff. _Want me to carry that for you?_

"By all means," he gestured at the pack he was sitting on with a flourish. Valen picked it up with a delicate claw and placed it on his back. He didn't bother with the straps, he just balanced the backpack between his dorsal tubes. Now freed from his burden, Kirchoff matched Valen's pace, walking agreeably close to him. Several times during their walk, Valen had deliberately stepped slightly off center, making contact with Kirchoff. This of course shoved him off balance and nearly sent him face first into the pine needles of the forest floor, but it was worth it for the extra bit of contact. In less than 5 minutes the forest abruptly cut off on both sides of them, giving way to a small clearing. The grass here was shorter and tougher than the grass outside the forest. Valen had chosen the spot because there was enough space for both he and Kirchoff to sleep, relax or whatever they were going to do while he recuperated, and it wasn't very far away from the door Kirchoff had left and arrived from.

_Well,_ he asked. _Do you like it?_

"Valen, you couldn't have chosen better," Kirchoff said, his gratitude and amazement rolling off him in waves. This made him purr with content, and he purred even harder when Kirchoff scratched the spot on the back of his neck that he loved to have scratched. Kirchoff broke off and walked around the perimeter of the clearing. Valen clambered up a nearby tree and watched from above as Kirchoff paced the uneven circle of grass. He looked so small from up in the foliage. _I wonder if I could pounce on him from here, it's a big jump but if I could build up some momentum..._

"I heard that!" Kirchoff yelled from the other side of the clearing.

_You can still hear me?_ Valen asked. He was equal parts impressed and confused. It was at least two hundred feet from his side of the clearing to the other.

"Yes! I just said that!"

_You weren't able to hear me this far away when you were in your home back in the lab._ It was true. According to Kirchoff's memories, his personal rooms were fairly close to his cell back in their old lab.

"I dunno, maybe the concrete in walls was limiting your range or something?"

_Maybe... _Valen pondered. _Could it be something wrong with your head after what happened. _That possibility worried him quite a bit. The sheer number of possible side effects could from his torture was was a near constant source of stress for him now.

"Equally plausible," Kirchoff was stroking his chin, deep in thought. "Tell me, did you ever try communicating with anybody besides me when we were in the lab?"

_No, why do you ask?_

"The basement where the lab was was mostly deserted. Maybe the range of your mental ability is much greater than we thought and we just never found out."

_Hmmmm, perhaps_, he thought musingly. That was a much more preferable theory.

"Anyways, we can puzzle over that later. I'm fucking tired and I wanna take a nap."

_Splendid idea, _Valen leapt forwards, landed gracefully in the middle of the clearing and sauntered over to Kirchoff, who had just unraveled a long sheet of cloth, presumably to sleep on. Valen couldn't think what else he would do with it, but knowing humans who knew what it was supposed to be used for. Maybe you were supposed to eat it or something. He watched as Kirchoff unpacked the rest of his things. He pulled out a pillow, a change of clothes, a stick of plastic with bristles on one end, a tube of sharp scented paste, a water bottle and some foul smelling packages that Kirchoff swore were food.

_Are you sure you're supposed to eat that?_

"Yes Valen. It's called a granola bar."

_Keep it away from me, I might get contaminated if it touches me._

He also had a small supply of personal belongings, among which were a several slim paperback books. His curiosity was peaked. The only books he had ever heard Kirchoff read were the manuals on operating computers back in the lab, and those had been so boring and tedious that it made slamming his head into the wall seem like the better option.

_What are those books about?_ He asked.

"Hmmm? Oh, just some silly novels I brought with me from home when I came here," Kirchoff answered.

_Interesting, but that didn't answer my question. What are they about?_ Valen pressed.

"Well, err…Well one is a sci-fi novels and the others are… they're just some stupid romance novels. It's nothing really." Kirchoff was so flustered his face practically radiated heat.

_It sure doesn't feel like nothing, _he teased, laughing at Kirchoff's supreme embarrassment.

"Look, let's forget about that okay! I've gotta get unpacked" he said, trying to change the subject.

_You can do that later,_ Valen chuckled. _I want to hear what these novels of yours are all about._

This made Kirchoff even more embarrassed. His cheeks were so flushed that Valen though he would spontaneously combust if he got even more flustered. Satisfied with his handiwork, Valen plopped down on the grass next to Kirchoff and wrapped his tail around his legs.

_I'm teasing you, you imbecile,_ He said, not unkindly.

"Oh. okay," Kirchoff let out a sigh, relieved. He was silent a moment before saying. "I could still read you a story, you know, if you wanted."

_Really? _This made him perk up. He had never read a story, not that he could have, what with the claws and the poor eyesight and the inability to read english.

"Sure, but I'm not reading you any sappy romance novels," His tone, both verbal and mental, was bemused. "You're already a huge hug monster as it is."

_What, me?_ He gasped in false shock. _Never!_

Kirchoff laughed a little as he settled against Valen's chest, using a blanket and pillow to cushion his back against his abdomen. He had his water bottle beside him, his weird pills in his pocket that made his throat feel better, and the science fiction book in his hands. "Okay, I'm just gonna read the first few chapters, then I'm going to bed, okay?"

_Alright._

* * *

_At first, the book was rather dry and boring. It was explaining some science that Valen didn't quite understand or care about, but as Kirchoff kept reading, he felt his mind began to stir. At first only a few dim flashes of color crossed his mind, barely feeling enough to be recognizable, but as he kept going the story slowly unfolded in his mind. Images and sensation danced before in his mind, painting a vivid picture as he read. The forms of characters, vehicles, plants and animals, planets, the vast empty void of space, decorating with millions upon billions of stars casting their eerie, beautiful glow across the sky danced across his mind. They painted a coherent and yet surreal portrait of the story Kirchoff was reading, playing out in his head. Valen watched in awe as a tragic young man, who appeared to be the focus of the story, travelled from planet to planet, solar system to solar system, galaxy to galaxy as he hunted for something that he had lost. Valen knew that this young man was not real, but he could not help but get invested in as he watched him suffer, struggle and succeed, over and over and over again as he continued his quest for who knows what. A lover perhaps? He nearly cried out in delight at one point where the man, after fighting a bitter battle against a ferocious, dark skinned, sharp toothed, horned monster, finally slew the beast. A young woman, scarcely clothed and feeble, was imprisoned in a cell nearby. With a leap the man was at the cage and destroyed it with one swing of his weapon and she flew into his arms. They embraced, and Valen could feel their elation as they reunited after so long. The final image of the two lovers, standing on a cliff overlooking a vast expanse of forest lingered for a moment, then it slowly faded to black, and with that, Valen slowly came back to his senses._

* * *

"And that's the end of the book," Kirchoff said, closing the paperback. "Man, I forgot how much I love this book. I mean it's not the best book ever, kind of cliched, but I think it's a good read. So what did you thiiii…!"

Before he could finish, Valen pulled Kirchoff into a bear hug and squeezed him tight, cutting him off his words with a high pitched squeak. _Kirchoff! I loved it! That was the most amazing thing I've ever experienced! It was like I was really there, in the story, watching it all play out before my eyes! I had no idea that something like this was possible!_

"That's great to hear," Kirchoff wheezed, "But do you mind loosening up a bit? I like breathing y'know."

Sorry! He relaxed his grip and Kirchoff took a deep breath of relief. _It's just that, I've experienced anything like that! Can you read more of your books to me? Please?_

Kirchoff smiled. "Of course, but not right now. I've been reading for hours, my voice is sore, I'm dog tired and I really need to take a leak."

_But…_ He was about to protest, but Kirchoff cut him off.

"I'll read another book tomorrow, I promise," His amusement showing as smile widened. "But for now, I need to empty my bladder and go to bed."

_Alright,_ he grumbled, trying to make his disappointment as obvious as possible. _I'm going to hold you up to it._

"I'm sure you will," Kirchhoff grinned.

Once Kirchoff was all drained and ready for bed, he curled up next to Valen, who purred so much that he sounded like an electric go-kart. He hadn't seen Valen so happy in… ever. This made him smile, which made Valen purr even harder and pull him against his chest even tighter. For the first time in what felt like an eternity, he drifted peacefully off to sleep.

* * *

As always, if you have any suggestions, comments or questions, feel free to leave a review or shoot me a PM. It's very encouraging to hear back from all you wonderful readers. And a big thanks to everyone who has offered me encouragement, sent a suggestion, and has stuck with me though all of the crap that delayed me in finally writing this chapter!


	13. Chapter 13

Woo, this chapter's a little dialogue heavy. Don't worry though, I tried to keep it extra sassy, just for you guys.

Oh, and this is my very first (but certainly not last) **LEMON WARNING**. It's only a small one, but if you don't like very gay sexual stuff, then read with caution :3

* * *

"Valen, for the last time no!" Kirchoff shouted.

_But you promised,_ he whined. This was an entirely new level of annoying. Kirchoff could deal with Valen's sass, he'd gotten pretty damn good at it. He could handle his anger, although a lot less confidently. One thing he hadn't been prepared to deal with first thing in the morning was a bitchy Xenomorph who wanted him to read his gushy romance novels to him.

"I know I promised you," he growled back. "But I am not going to read you that one!"

_Why not?_ Valen complained. In his black, powerful claws was one of Kirchoff's romance novels entitled _The Marquis of Mars._ It was a birthday present he got from one of his brothers before they enlisted in the space marines, and as such it held great sentimental value. And it also held a lot of inappropriate things that he didn't feel like explaining to Valen.

"Because I said so, that's why!" Trying to get Valen to stop whining.

_But you promised me a story,_ he whined, sounding like a five year old whose mother said he couldn't have the candy he wanted. If the five year old was a seven foot tall alien death machine.

Kirchoff rubbed his temples. He decided to try and compromise. "Look, I'll get some more books I can read to you, but I am not going to read you that one."

_At least tell me why not!_ Valen's mental voice was so high pitched and drawn out that Kirchoff could swear he was doing on purpose, which he probably was.

"I'm not going to read it to you because I really, REALLY don't want to answer your questions once I'm done reading it," he huffed. "And can you please stop your bitching! You're giving me a headache!"

_What, you'd rather I sass you to death?_ Valen asked smugly.

"That would be infinitely preferable."

* * *

Ever since Kirchoff had woken up that day, he had been harassed by Valen to read him another story. Whatever Valen had experienced while listening to his story must have been nothing short of mind blowing because it was all he could talk about that whole morning. Not that he could really complain, he had never seen Valen so happy and invested in anything. Nonetheless, it got a pretty grating after about four hours of talking about _Galactic Quest: Search the Stars._ In a desperate attempt to get some peace and quiet, Kirchoff had told Valen that he was going to go make a request for some books, and Valen had insisted on coming along.

_I still can't believe how vivid it all was,_ Valen spouted. _I had no idea that anything could produce such effects in the mind._

"Uh huh," he said absentmindedly. They were walking back towards the door Kirchoff had come in the previous day, and which was also their primary means of communication with Dr. Nigel. It was the only place he knew of that had an intercom.

_I can't believe we didn't try this sooner._

"Uh huh."

_I mean, I had no idea that anything could produce images and sensations like that._

"Uh huh."

_Especially yours,_ he teased, nudging him on the hip. The gentle nudge was strong enough to shove him to the side, make him lose his balance, stumble on his own feet, and make him fall flat on his face.

"Classy," he fumed. "Real fucking classy."

_Sorry Kirchoff,_ Valen said, not sounding sorry at all.

"Valen, could you knock it off?" he shot. "I'm not in the mood."

_When are you ever in the mood?_ Valen shot back.

Kirchoff stood up and said in a cold, controlled voice, "Valen, do you still want me to read to you? Because right now, I'm this close from never opening another book around you again."

He stood in place breathing heavily for a minute. Then his anger turned to shock at his own outburst. He looked back at Valen, who had taken several steps back from him, and Kirchoff felt genuine remorse and hurt from Valen.

"Look," he paused, then took a deep, calming breath before continuing. "I'm sorry Valen. I'm just a little tired of hearing about what happened last night when I read to you. I know what happened was very new and special to you, but I can't talk about the same thing for 4 hours without going a little crazy."

_So… does that mean you're still going to read to me?_ He asked hesitantly.

"Of course it does you big idiot," he laughed and patted Valen's head, making him purr. With that, all the tension in the air instantly evaporated."Just give it a rest for a while, or I just might follow through with that threat."

The rest of the short walk to the outer wall of the forest was blissfully silent. When they arrived at the door, Kirchoff hurriedly dialed a number on the keypad on the wall and waited for an answer.

* * *

Dr. Nigel was sitting in her private laboratory, furiously typing away at a computer. Ordinarily, she didn't trust machines to store her data, but her circumstances were far from ordinary. She had been working almost nonstop for the past three days, and she had only barely started. Then her phone rang, which could mean one of three things. One would be Dr. Gavin calling and there was no way that it could be anything less than disastrous. The second could be Kirchoff calling, which was a significantly better option. Or third, it could mean that her new filing cabinets were here, which would be the best situation. She stopped hammering away at the keyboard and picked up the phone.

"Yes, this is Dr. Nigel," she almost slurred. She had been working for on five hours of sleep for the past 72 hours and she had just run out of coffee.

"Hi Ursula," Kirchoff said. "How are you doing?"

"Hi Kirchoff, I'm fine, just a bit tired," She replied, doing her best to stifle a yawn." How are you and Valen doing?"

"Just fine thank you. Except…"

She sat up in her chair. "Except what?"

"Except I've got an avid reader down here who's been dying for some new material and hasn't stopped talking about it since this morning."

She puffed out her cheeks and blew hard. "So all you want is books?"

"Not just books, I mean all the books you can get your hands on, any genre, any subject. Classics, sci fi, fantasy, mystery, romance, textbooks, whatever. Oh, and throat lozenges. Shittons of lozenges."

"I should be able to get all of that in a day or so." She went back to typing, banging out Kirchoff's request on a new file. "Anything else? I've got lots of work to do."

"No, unless you can send down some toilet paper and about fifty pounds of raw meat."

"Toilet paper I can do. Fifty pounds of raw meat, no. Tell Valen that he'll have to go hunting for his own food. The forest is full of deer and other wildlife, he shouldn't have a hard time finding a meal."

"But he says…"

"And tell him," she interjected. "To stop being such a whiny bitch."

* * *

"And she tells you to stop being such a whiny bitch." Kirchoff tried to keep a straight face and failed miserably.

_I am not whiny,_ he huffed.

"You sure are acting like it. What happened to all the sass and sarcasm?"

_I don't know, maybe it's because I've spent it all on an imbecilic human who won't shut up about how his rear end is itching because he's been unable to wipe his…_

"Alright, you made your point." He raised his hands in surrender. "She says it'll take about a day to get all of the stuff here, so what do you want to do in the meantime?"

Hmmm, let's see, what could I possibly want to do? Valen said, practically spewing raw sarcasm as he spoke. I'm completely stumped. Do you have any ideas what I want to do?

"I told you Valen, I'm not reading that book."

_And I'm telling you Kirchoff, you don't have a choice in the matter._ Valen grinned. Kirchoff gulped.

* * *

_Okay,_ Valen said, barely containing his mirth. _I have a few questions._

"Oh dear god." Kirchoff buried his head in his hands.

_First of all… Why do you own this book._

"It was a gift from one of my brothers when I was younger."

_And you enjoyed it?_

"A little."

_I'd say more than a little. You could barely keep your words straight half the time._

"I only read three chapters."

And I'm not sure how much longer you would have lasted, it was getting hard for you to read, He could barely contain himself. It was so hard to not keel over and laugh, And I'm pretty sure that's not the only thing that was getting hard.

"Really?" Kirchoff exclaimed. "Really? Are you really going there?"

_I don't know, I'm sure you'd be more than happy to at this point._

Kirchoff squirmed, and Valen savored the moment. It was good to know that he could still make him writhe and squirm if need be. Then out of the blue he asked, "Valen, what exactly do you know about mating?"

Kirchoff's question caught him off guard. _Where did that come from?_

"Seriously, I'm curious." "I never learned about it in school because so little is known about it. Very few people are interested in Xenomorph reproduction, and those that are area a little messed up in the head."

_You mean like you?_

"Me?" He snorted. "No, I'm just a doctor with a Xenomorph for a roommate and a best friend."

_Fair point. To be honest I never gave it much thought._ This was a blatant lie. He had thought about it very much, but never much about who he would do it with until recently. It just seemed like a distant fantasy back when he lived in a containment cell. He always imagined it would be with another one of his own kind, but now that he had time to put some thought into it, it seemed less and less likely. Obviously he was limited to males, which made his options very small right off the bat. And he would also have to find somebody willing, which limited his choices down to almost none.

Back when he was living in the cell, he did have some private time whenever Kirchoff wasn't around to relieve the pressure, but since Kirchoff had involuntarily moved in with him he hadn't had much private time. Not that he had noticed up to now because he was so concerned for Kirchoff's well being, but now that there was no apparent danger to his health, there was nothing to distract him. Not only that, Kirchoff's book was so sexually charged that even he couldn't help but feel a little stirred up.

Valen was so lost in his own thoughts that he forgot all about Kirchoff until he snapped him back to reality with a loud cough. "Valen, are you still here?"

_What?_ He shook his head, doing his best to clear his thoughts without Kirchoff seeing them.

"I asked you're alright. You just froze for a minute there."

_Yes, I'm fine,_ just hungry, he lied again. _I'm going to go hunting._

"You do that. I'm going to go exploring. You said there was a stream nearby?"

_Yes, just a short walk over that way,_ he gestured to his left with his tail.

"Thanks," he gave Valen's head a hug, which didn't help his situation.

* * *

As it turned out, hunting was far more difficult than Valen had initially anticipated. It was easy enough to locate the deer, their scent was very strong and it only took him several minutes to locate the small herd that occupied the forest with them. Actually killing them turned out to be the hard part. They were incredibly skittish. Even the slightest snapping of branches, rustling of leaves or any kind of unexpected noise sent them running. Being sneaky in a forest literally covered in dry twigs and loose branches, Valen discovered after half a dozen failed ambushes, was very difficult. in the end, he gave up on his attempts to be stealthy and just chased down a doe for dinner. It struggled more than he would have liked, but that couldn't be helped now.

After his well deserved meal, Valen didn't head back right away. He wanted some time to think about what Kirchoff had asked him. Now it was obvious to him at this point that he felt very strongly for him and there was a good possibility of him feeling the same way, but he highly doubted Kirchoff would be willing to mate with him if it came down to it. After all, they were two different species, and he had no idea if Kirchoff would find him… appealing. Valen's thoughts drifted back to the night in the cell, before all of the crazy events of the last few days. He thought about when Kirchoff had come into his cell and oh so thoroughly frisked all of his sensitive areas. And even earlier today when he snapped at him, it was more arousing than scary. And he thought about what he wanted to happen next.

At the thought of Kirchoff manhandling him, he could take no more and his manhood popped out of the slit in his groin and stiffened rapidly. Valen glared down at his erection, willing it to go away. It twitched definitely, stubbornly refusing to listen.

_Damnit,_ Valen thought to himself._ I guess I have to deal with this problem myself._

Valen shifted his stance on to lean forwards on one hand and drooled onto his other hand. When it was nice and lubed up he grasped his cock and it throbbed in response, leaking a little bit of pre.

_Aahhh, I didn't know I was so pent up,_ he hissed.

Starting slowly, but quickly picking up speed, Valen began to stroke himself, running his hands from the head of his member down to the base. He was only stroking himself for several minutes before he was getting close to release.

He slowed his stroking, trying to savor the moment. He verged on the edge of orgasm, bringing himself as close as he could to release and then stopped just short of cumming. Eventually it was just too much and he gave in. His legs buckled and he fell to knees, his member throbbing and pulsing as he soaked the ground below him in his semen. When he finally stopped, there was a small puddle of cum on the ground underneath him, spreading around his knees in a hot, sticky mess.

_I must have been more pent up than I thought…_

* * *

Kirchoff was reading through _The Marquis of Mars_ when Valen arrived back at the camp. When he saw him land back in the clearing he quickly shut the book and stuffed it under his pillow.

"Hey there Valen, what took you so long?" he asked, noting the red splotches of blood on his muzzle and forearms.

_Devouring a deer isn't exactly easy when you have to catch the damn thing,_ he snarked. Irritation and tiredness laced his words and Kirchoff thought it would be best for his physical health if he didn't comment. _I'm going off to the river to clean up._

"I'll come with you, I've gotta clean up anyways."

_Clean up what? You still look perfectly clean to me. That is unless you were…_ Valen stopped talking and looked over at him. He looked away and ignored the implications of what Valen was saying. Valen laughed, O_h Kirchoff, you dirty bastard._

Kirchoff rolled his eyes and his cheeks burned. "Oh, what?"

_Nothing,_ Valen rasped though his laughter. _Nothing at all. I wasn't implying that you were pleasuring yourself while I was out hunting._

"Like you've never jerked off before when I wasn't around."

_I don't know what you mean,_ he said, clearly feigning innocence.

Kirchoff shot him a look that made it clear that he didn't believe a word he was saying. "For your information, I need to wash up because I was eating, not because I was whacking off." He gestured to the discarded granola bar wrappers next to his pillow on his bedspread. "Anyways, let's go clean you up shall we."

* * *

The river was only a brief walk away from their campsite. The water wasn't particularly fast or strong, but the river was wide and the water was chilly, so they stuck to the shallow water near the rocky bank of the river while Kirchoff helped Valen clean himself off. This was a difficult process, since most of the blood was drying or dried, and it made it a pain in the ass to scrub out of all of the tiny grooves and crevasses on Valen's body, and he could only do so much with his fingers.

"You're a messy eater, you know that right?" He told Valen, trying to scrub a patch of coagulated blood off of his bony shoulder blades.

_Like you're much better,_ he remarked. He was washing off his claws and head, but not doing a very good job of it.

"I'll have you know that I have perfectly fine table manners," He retorted. "At least I don't end up covered in oatmeal every time I eat."

Kirchoff could feel that Valen wanted to comment, but he held his tongue, much to his surprise. Somehow Valen had managed to cover half of his body in deer blood, which wasn't exactly pleasant to look at. It made his stomach churn just to think about it.

_If you're so squeamish head on back to camp,_ Valen told him.

"Because I don't want to be hanging around a blood soaked Xenomorph when I'm trying to relax." Kirchoff had become so accustomed to Valen's ability that ti didn't even phase him anymore. "Is that too much to ask?"

_Why should it matter to you? It's not like you're not covered in it._

"Several reasons," Kirchoff counted them off on his fingers."One, you've become very touchy feely recently, and I don't want you to ruin my clothes. Two, it'll start to smell, and it smells disgusting. And finally, I don't want to see a constant reminder that you kill things."

_Kirchoff, I'm a predator. Killing things is what I do. I thought we discussed this a long time ago._

"Yeah, but I don't want to see you like a predator." He blushed a little. He felt embarrassed, although he had no idea why, and he felt even more embarrassed at not knowing why he felt so embarrassed.

_Well I'm flattered that you think so highly of me,_ Valen said softly, without a hint of sarcasm in his voice. They continued to bathe Valen in silence until all traces of his hunt had been washed from his body. Then they silently trudged back to their campsite in the clearing. They didn't speak at all, they didn't feel the need to. Both Valen and Kirchoff felt completely content just to bask in each other's presence. when they arrived back at camp, Kirchoff expected Valen to ask him to read to him, but the request never came. Instead he lay down on his side and extended his arms to him, an invitation he accepted without hesitation. He leaned his head against Valen's chest, his arms wrapped around him. More than ever, Kirchoff felt secure and safe in Valen's embrace, more than when he had protected him in their cell following his torture, more that when he had comforted him when he had broken down in front of him. Nowhere else felt as secure as in Valen's arms. And they laid like that, together for the rest of the day.

* * *

Dr. Nigel was dog fucking tired, her eyes were sunken and he shoulders drooped over her desk. Her braided hair was disheveled and frizzy, her clothes reeked of unwashed human, but she couldn't bring herself to go to sleep. Her eyes were fixated on a monitor on her desk.

On the monitor was a live video feed, which offered a bird's eye view of a small forest clearing, in which two figures could be clearly seen laying side by side. They looked completely at ease, although logic dictated that this was an impossibility. Dr. Nigel had observed this scene many times over the course of the last few days, but she had never seen the two so relaxed and comfortable before. She sipped her coffee and continued to stare at the two figures, deep in thought until she could no longer keep her eyes open.

* * *

I hope this chapter was everything you were hoping for, I certainly loved writing it!

As always if you liked the story, please feel free to give me your ideas and feedback. It's very encouraging to hear from all you lovely readers.


End file.
